One of the topics in this month’s Family Table Time kit is valor. But if you try to tell your child what it means to have valor, they may wonder why you’re bothering, them since they’re not serving in the military.
Why would a kid need to worry about courage or bravery, as the dictionary defines the word, in their everyday lives?
One of the topics in this month’s Family Table Time kit is valor. But if you try to tell your child what it means to have valor, they may wonder why you’re bothering them since they’re not serving in the military.
Why would a kid need to worry about courage or bravery, as the dictionary defines the word, in their everyday lives?
But whether or not they realize it, courage is a trait they will always need:
the courage to admit when they did something wrong
the bravery to go against the crowd when “everyone else is doing it”
the valor to stand up for what they believe is right
It also means facing unpleasant situations and emotions without the need of artificial “soothers” like drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes.
What Valor Isn’t
One thing that isn’t courageous is being unafraid. To be brave is to face your fears and do it anyway, whatever “it” is that frightens you.In a child’s everyday life, that could be anything, from going out for the team even though they’re afraid they won’t make it, to standing up to bullies, whether they’re the victim or someone else is.
But true valor isn’t the type of bravery that encourages foolish risk-taking. That, of course, is the natural tendency of teens, and it’s important to teach them the difference.
Encouraging Valor
Valor, courage, bravery . . . whatever you want to call it, isn’t something that can be taught in a single sit-down session with your child. It’s nurtured throughout their formative years and also demonstrated by example from their parents.So if you’re interested in finding ways to encourage your child to be more courageous, be sure to check out our Family Table Time activity kit. Besides valor, the topics for this month are literacy and reading, gratitude, and heritage.
Here’s what you get in each kit:
an agenda for family meetings, which provides a detailed plan for conducting family meetingscharacter-based conversation starters to help explore each week’s topic in depth
quick, easy, and healthy family recipes
suggestions for fun physical activities families can do together
If you want to see the positive impact Family Table Time can make on your family, you can try it for free for four weeks.
