Is a delightful tale from thePhilippines a Turtle sees a banana tree floating in the river and she brings it to the shore. But she can’t carry it to her garden by herself so she seeks help from monkey promising to give him some. He agrees and carries it to the garden, cuts the top off because it looked the best and he wanted his share now. Monkey does not listen to Turtle when she tells him he should wait. Needless to say Monkey’s half died because it has no roots.

Turtle’s half grows lots of banana’s but she can’t reach them so once again she turns to the Monkey for help. But instead of giving her the banana’s he eats them, and gives her the peels.

Turtle makes a trap for him when he got down. Monkey picked her up and throws her into the river.

Lessons for Character Education

Teamwork

There are times when you will need help. But you need to be wise when you ask others for help. Turtle should have asked someone else to help her the second time, Monkey showed he was not reliable the first time. She was lucky the tree top grew back and he took the part that “looked” good.

Perseverance

Turtle knew you have to wait to get the fruit from a tree, but Monkey wanted his half now so he cut the tree. Even though his half looked the best, it never produced any fruit. In order to produce fruit, a tree needs to have roots, water, sunshine, and nourishment. It doesn’t grow overnight, but it will if you wait for it.

Enjoy your time with your child, and remember a great way to “Inspire-Your-Kids” is to read with them.

There was a man, Chirobo, who had so much wisdom people were always dropping in. He would stop what he was doing and talk to them. He was so wise no one seemed to care he was blind.

A stranger came by and Chirobo showed him kindness. He asked if there was something he could do for Chirobo in return. Chirobo asked to go hunting with him. The stranger didn’t want to take him at first but then he conceded. Chirobo knew how to see in different ways besides his through his eyes. He knew when a leopard, warthogs, and rhinos were near. ( He could tell through his ears, nose, and skin. ) This knowledge helped them avoid trouble.

They set the traps for the birds and came back the next day. Chirobo’s trap had a large duck while the stranger’s trap had a small quail. The stranger told Chirobo his trap had the small quail. On the way home the younger man asks Chirobo why people fight. He said because people try to take what is not theirs just like you have done to me. Chirobo knew the man had lied to him.

Lesson for Character Education

Honesty

The stranger lied when he told Chirobo that the smaller bird was his. Even though Chirobo couldn’t see he knew the man lied. How do you think Chirobo knew?

Leadership

People were always seeking Chirobo out. There had to be a reason while people flocked to his house. It was not because he was blind and couldn’t do anything.

When people seek you out you are a leader. You don’t get to be a leader by cheating people. He might not have been able to see with his eyes but he saw in other ways. If your children can learn to see people in different ways they can learn to be a leader.

Enjoy your time with your child, and remember a great way to “Inspire-Your-Kids” is to read with them.

 
Natasha is visiting her grandmother, Babushka. She wants her Babushka to swing her, give her a ride in the goat cart, and feed her right away. She does not want to wait for anything. While they are eating lunch Natasha ask if she could play with Babushka’s doll.

Babushka told Natasha she could play with the doll while she was at the store. When Babushka left the doll came to life and demanded Natasha to play with her. Natasha thought it was fun at first. Then the doll became more and more demanding just like she was being towards her grandmother. She realizes that she didn’t like it.

Lessons for Character Education

Relationships

Natasha demanded that her Babushka play with her while she was working. She gets a taste of her own medicine when the doll comes to life and demands things from her.

All relationships need to be mindful of the other person. If you were to demand and demand something and not give anything back in return, after a while that person will get tired and will not want to be around you. We need to treat others with kindness.

There is a saying you reap what you sow. It means what you do to other people is what someone will do it you. Babushka did not do to Natasha what she did to her but Natasha still had the same thing happen to her through the doll.

Enjoy your time with your child, and remember a great way to “Inspire-Your-Kids” is to read with them.

One day theFranklinand Bear were waiting for the school bus, when Bear’s tooth came out.  Franklin was amazed that Bear would want to keep it.  Fox told Franklin about the tooth fairy. 

Franklin had never heard of the tooth fairy because he had no teeth.  Mr. Owl said that losing your teeth means you are growing. Franklin wants to be like the other animals so he finds a rock and puts it under his shell writing a note to the tooth fairy he said it was a turtle tooth.  In the morning, he finds a note from the tooth fairy saying turtles do not have teeth.  But his parents did give him a present to celebrate him growing up.

Lessons for Character Educations

Self Assessment

Even though Franklin is not like the other animals because he does not have teeth, he is still vauable and he is growing up.  It is what is on the inside that counts not if you have teeth or not.

Enjoy your time with your child, and remember a great way to “Inspire-Your-Kids” is to read with them.

Little Badger wants to be a pirate.  The woodchuck, the raccoon, crow and chipmunk all give him reasons why he cannot be a pirate.  But Old Badger tells him why he can be a pirate.  He chooses to listen to Old Badger.

Lessons for Character Lessons

 Goals

 A goal is a dream with a deadline.  Four animals gave Little Badger a reason why he couldn’t be a pirate but one told him why he could.  There are more people out there ready to take your dreams away then there are willing to support your dreams.  Always remember this and chose who to listen to the ones who are supporting your dreams, and goals.

 What would you like to be?

What are the reasons you can achieve your dreams?

Self-esteem

Little Badger choose to listen to Old Badger instead of everyone else. There are so many voices telling you what to believe but you can choose what voices you listen to.

You can be who ever you desire to be no matter what anyone says.  There will be people who will tell you what you can’t do.  But choose to listen to the people who encourage you.  It is your choice to believe whoever you want.  So it is your choice to decide which direction your life will take.

Enjoy your time with your child, and remember a great way to “Inspire-Your-Kids” is to read with them.

A little girl saves a Caterpillar from a Blue Jay.  Her grandfather and her makes a beautiful home for it.  She feds it and watches it change into a butterfly. After it is free butterflies come back to her house year after year. Even though she’s now as old as her grandfather, the painted butterflies still come visit her garden.  

Lessons for Character Lessons 

Social Responsibility

You can use this book to talk to children about their responsibility to take care of this world we live in. 

Relationships

In this book we see a relationship between a girl and her grandfather.  They are best friends.  In this day and age. We need examples to show our children that they can get along with their grandparents.  There is great wisdom found among the elderly. Do what you can to encourage a relationship between your children and their grandparents.

Enjoy your time with your child, and remember a great way to “Inspire-Your-Kids” is to read with them.

This is a book about a family that is having a baby and how the older sister reacts to the new baby.  Just before the mother leaves for the hospital to give birth she gives her daughter a stuffed monster to take care that way she will accept her brother. But the little girl does not accept her new brother.  The baby cries for weeks then her monster start’s acting out.  The mother tells her, “we all need to take care of the baby.”  She decides to  help out. 

Lessons for Character Education

Conflicts

In every relationship there will be times when conflicts arise.  The mother tried to avoid a conflict by giving her daughter a stuffed toy to take care.  But it did not work. The little girl didn’t like how her parents time, laps, and bed were not just for her. She had to learn how to share and she didn’t want to. She liked the way it was before the baby. But once she decided to start helping out things start getting better.

Enjoy your time with your child, and remember a great way to “Inspire-Your-Kids” is to read with them.

Lilly really loves school and she loves her teacher, Mr. Slinger.  Over the weekend she gets a new purse, glasses, and money and she can’t wait to show everyone at school.  Mr. Slinger tells her three times to wait till recess or sharing time.  She can’t wait and interrupts the class.  He takes her things until the end of the day.

Lilly is sad, then angry, so she draws a picture of how mean her teacher is and put it in his bag.  Mr. Slinger writes a nice note and put it in her purse for her.  She feels terrible when she gets it.  She writes a note at home saying that she’s sorry and gives it to Mr. Slinger the next day.

Lessons for Character Education

Conflicts

Lilly lashes out at Mr. Slinger.  Later she is sorry.  There is a right way and a wrong way to handle conflicts and Lilly handled it the wrong way. 

What would have been a better way for her to handle the conflict?

 Emotions

In this book Lilly has several different emotions.  It is quite common to have different emotions in a 24 hour period.  At the end of the day, she learns to see things from her teacher side and she learns about forgiveness.

Enjoy your time with your child, and remember a great way to “Inspire-Your-Kids” is to read with them.

This is a great book to teach self esteem to a young child. Everyone cries, get scared, gets mad, makes mistakes, or wants to be accepted at some point.  Mama bunny loves him just the way he is. Mama bunny assures him she will love him no matter what he is feeling or acting.

Lessons For Character Education

Self-esteem

There are times in life when we feel that others won’t accept us.  The little bunny wanted to make sure that his mom would always accepted him. This is so important for children. Your children need to know that you will always accept them the way they are, no matter how they act.

Enjoy your time with your child, and remember a great way to “Inspire-Your-Kids” is to read with them.

After a fire in their apartment destroyed everything they owned.  The mother, grandmother and daughter moved into a new apartment, family and friends brought them lots of things they needed. But they were still lacking a big chair that they could cuddle in. So they started saving up all their change.

Finally the day came when their jar was full they took their change and converted it into paper money. They went out, found the perfect chair, bought it, and when it was set up in their apartment, they cuddled in it.

Lessons for Character Education

Goals

The little girl, her mother and her grandmother all had a goal: to get a big comfy chair. They saved and saved for a year until they were able to buy the right chair.

Social Responsibility

This lady and her daughter had a fire in their apartment. Family and friends helped by giving them the things they needed. It is our responsibility to help others when they are in need.

What can you and your family do to help someone? 

Enjoy your time with your child, and remember a great way to “Inspire-Your-Kids” is to read with them.