The mercy rule

The mercy rule works like this: Typically, in the game of Trouble or Sorry!, when one player lands on a space occupied by another player, the official game rules dictate that the player who was already on the space must give it up and return to the start.

The mercy rule comes into play when someone lands on a space already held by the player who is the furthest behind in the game. If you land on the player who is least likely to win, you simply take the space on the board behind them instead of sending them back to the start.

After the game, or during your next trip in the car together, use the discussion questions below to introduce your children to some real-life applications of the mercy rule.

Pray with your children, asking God to help you be a family who practices the mercy rule at all times – not just during family games.

Questions for discussion
  • Do you know what it means to “kick someone who is down”?
  • Can you think of some real-life examples of people who are hurting or “down”?
  • How can we apply the mercy rule in each of these situations?
Relevant Scripture

1 Peter 3:8 “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

James 3:17 “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Solution sleuthing

When we live and work closely with others, we often need to cooperate. In everyday situations, whenever we are around other people, we need to consider how our actions affect those around us.

Brainstorm together about situations where you need to cooperate, both inside your home and outside your home. For each situation, come up with a creative and cooperative solution. The first table provides an example.

Cooperating as a family

Family situation

Creative solution

During a long trip, you stop at a gas station because everyone needs to use the washroom. To decide who gets to visit the washroom first, invite family members to express their need on a scale of one to 10. The person with the most urgent need (10) goes first.
Two people want to heat up their snack in the microwave.  
One person has the fridge door open. A second person can’t get past to access the pantry.  
One person is washing dishes. A second person wants to pour a drink of water from the faucet.  
One person wants to go outside, but a second person is blocking the doorway while putting on their shoes.  
Someone has an itchy spot on their back that is just out of reach.  
Someone is doing the laundry and needs help folding clean sheets.  

 

 

Cooperating with strangers

Public situation

Creative solution

Two people reach for the same bunch of bananas at the grocery store. One person says, “Oh, excuse me. Please make your choice first. I can wait.”
Just as you come to the end of the aisle at the grocery store, you almost run your cart into someone who is pushing their cart in the opposite direction.  
When you are driving along the road, one lane suddenly ends and all vehicles must merge into a single lane.  
Two people arrive at the fast food order desk at the same time.  
Two drivers want the same spot in a busy parking lot.  
While hiking on a narrow path, two families meet, each heading in opposite directions.  
Someone is struggling to lift a heavy box into the trunk of their car.  

Practice phrases you can say to let others know that you are willing to cooperate. Here are a few ideas:

  • You go ahead; I can wait.
  • You go first; I don’t mind waiting.
  • I’ll wait my turn.
  • Would you like me to give you a hand with that?
  • Can I get that for you?
  • After you . . . (with a gesture encouraging the other person to go ahead)
Relevant Scripture

Mark 9:35 “And He sat down and called the twelve. And He said to them, ‘If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.’

Luke 6:31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you.

 

 

One in the spirit

Singing with a group or playing in a band is a form of cooperation. One person who is off beat or out of tune can ruin the whole song. Similarly, one uncooperative person can make a whole family miserable.

To reinforce the value of cooperation, watch an orchestra playing together and learn about the different instruments. If you get the chance, listen to how each instrument sounds alone and how beautiful they all sound when played together.

For some hands-on music making, learn the song We Are One in the Spirit and sing it together as a family. You may want to play along on your own musical instruments as you sing.

Note: See the kick-off craft section of the Harmony lesson for some simple musical instruments you can make at home.

I spy cooperation

When you are out and about on errands, watch for people who are cooperating. You might see people at the side of the road changing a tire, carpenters building a house, store employees helping each other, or two people hauling a load together. Talk about the cooperative aspect of their jobs and how tasks can be much easier when people work together.

Relevant Scripture

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

A tale of two squirrels

This is a true story, but with names changed and some imaginative touches added. Feel free to further reinvent the tale to make it more interesting for your children.

A tale of two squirrels

Once there was a squirrel family with two children in it – a brother squirrel and a sister squirrel. Momma squirrel needed help storing food for winter, so she asked Brother and Sister to collect pinecones while she travelled farther into the woods to collect some hazelnuts.

For about an hour the young squirrels worked hard gathering cones from an evergreen tree near their home. Brother tossed the cones down from the high branches and Sister ran to collect them and put them in their winter storage pile.

Just as they were growing a little bored with the work, Brother hit Sister on the head with a pinecone – and she didn’t like it one bit! She didn’t wait to ask if it had been an accident. Instead, she ran straight up the tree trunk and out onto the branch where Brother sat. Then she bit his tail hard!

As you can imagine, Brother was shocked and angry. He chased Sister around the tree trunk. Around and around they ran, pausing every so often to listen for the chattering of the other one. The more they chattered at each other, the faster they ran up and down and around and around the tree.

“Chhhh! Chhhh! You have a fluffy tail,” Brother mocked.

“Your fur is an ugly colour,” Sister screeched back.

This continued for the entire afternoon. The squirrel children knew they would be in trouble for getting nothing done, but neither one was willing to say sorry and begin cooperating again.

Six-year-old Jackson and his older sister, Olivia, were in their backyard raking leaves. As they worked, they watched the squirrels. When their father came out to check on their work, the children pointed to the funny, squabbling squirrels. Their father started laughing.

“Can you guess what their mother is going to say when she comes back?” he asked Olivia and Jackson.

Olivia and Jackson thought back to something that had happened the day before, when Olivia and Jackson had been arguing over their chores. They always argued over chores – about who had to do what, who was working harder, and who was working faster. But this time, their mother had timed their argument. They had argued for seven minutes about who should pick up some spilled beads!

Olivia had demanded that Jackson pick the beads up, since he had knocked them off the table. Jackson said it was Olivia’s fault for not tidying the beads away.

Remembering the argument, Jackson answered, “I think the mother squirrel might say something like Mom said to us yesterday.”

“And what was that?” asked his dad.

Olivia recalled and repeated her mom’s statement: “You’ve wasted so much time arguing, you could have had that job done already.”

The silly squirrels were still chasing each other when Momma squirrel returned. “Chhhh! Chhhh!” Momma squirrel scolded.

Jackson was distracted by the squirrels and dropped the bag that Olivia was loading leaves into. The leaves spilt all over the ground. Before either of the children could blame the other and start fighting, their dad started making the squirrel’s noise.

“Chhhh! Chhhh!”

Both kids started laughing, and suddenly they were all throwing leaves at each other.

“Chhhh! Chhhh!” their dad said, imitating the squirrels again.

“Don’t pretend we’re squirrels, Dad!” begged Jackson. They heard more laughter coming from the direction of the house. It was their mother coming out to join them.

“I won’t call you squirrels,” she said, “unless I see or hear you acting like cheeky rodents again.”

After tossing some leaves at their mom, Olivia and Jackson worked with their parents to load all the leaves into the bag.

What do you think Olivia and Jackson’s parents said the next time the children started to fight instead of work?

Song of assurance

Most of us have sung the words to the song Jesus Loves Me over and over again. The beauty of this song is that it carries a message of assurance of God’s love for each of us. Sing it daily and sing it as you drive.

If your children are very familiar with this song, you can add interest by singing it in a variety of music styles (for example, country, opera or rap) or sing it as different characters (for example, like a mouse, a moose or a football player).

Highlight the line in the song “for the Bible tell me so,” and see if your children can think of a verse in the Bible that talks about God’s love.

Christmas lights – a reminder about joy

Say “Happy Birthday Jesus” and sing the Happy Birthday song:

Happy birthday to You
Happy birthday to You
Happy birthday dear Jesus
We really love You!

Thankfulness jam

While driving in your car, open up discussion by inviting your kids to tell you what life would be like without a car or a vehicle for transportation. Work together to include your kids’ ideas in a short rhyme of praise. For example, God, thanks for our car; without it we couldn’t go far!

Each time you drive somewhere, repeat the jingle and add another verse like this one: God, thanks for our food; not to say thanks would be really rude! This is a fun way to remember to thank God for all the ways He provides for your family.

Other things you can praise God for include shoes, food, clothing, pets, stores, water, health, friends, family, freedom and books. See how many verses you can add to your “thankfulness jam” and still remember them!

Seeing the bright side

Help your children understand that there is a positive side to everyday circumstances with this simple game called What’s the Bright Side? You will need a blindfold (or a stretchy headband works well).

Begin by asking your children to help you think of some jobs or things you or your kids dislike. For a parent it may be scrubbing toilets. For a child, eating salmon for supper may tempt them to whine.

Explain to your kids that having a negative attitude means we are “blind” to the many good things in our lives. Then, take turns wearing the blindfold. Think of a scenario in which the person who is wearing the blindfold could be tempted to complain. The blindfolded person then has to think of a reason to be thankful in regards to that situation. (You’ll need to explain that this is called “seeing the bright side.”)

For example, the blindfolded person could say, As much as I hate scrubbing toilets, I am thankful that we have an indoor toilet to use instead of an outhouse. Or, I don’t care for fish, but I am thankful that I have food to eat.

Let everyone have a turn wearing the blindfold and “seeing the bright side.”

For follow up, model gratefulness for your children by stating aloud the things you are choosing to be thankful for. For example, as you load the dishwasher or wash the dishes you might say, Thank You God for all these dirty dishes. Dirty dishes remind me that our family has food to eat. When your children complain about little jobs or inconveniences, you can ask them to “see the bright side.” Don’t forget that you can also encourage them to thank God for difficulties and fears. For example, your child could say, Dear God, I don’t like being scared of the dark, but I’m glad that my fear reminds me to trust You to take care of me. Amen.

Praise brigade

Mom or Dad, pick a day that suits and say thank you to God, out loud, for everything! (Don’t tell your children beforehand; see if they catch on).

Thank God for fresh water every time you turn on a tap, for electricity when you turn on a light switch, and for food when you have something to eat. Thank Him for friends and family who phone, text or email. You can thank God for difficulties and problems as well. The sky is the limit – and you can thank Him for that too!

Finally, ask your kids if they are tired of hearing you praise God. Whether they answer yes or no doesn’t matter, just let your children know that God never gets tired of hearing our praise.