Clearly, children often miss out on effective learning because they do not have the ability to understand and manage their emotions. This becomes clear when a young child misses out on prime learning opportunities because they have no tools to help them navigate and command their emotions, except to exhibit unproductive behaviors. They may be disrespectful, but do not know what respectful looks like, or what it is. Likewise, they may be unkind, but cannot relate to a stable bar for understanding kindness, and the accountability of exhibiting it. Such behaviors inhibit sustainable learning growth.
Our children hear words like nice, sharing, respect, polite, gentle and self-control, but do not know what they really mean, or how to replicate them in real life. They hear the words, but the bar of accountability is different in many situations. This makes their understanding of such behaviors tenuous and unreliable. It is imperative we teach Godly heart attributes to our children, so they learn the real, unchangeable perimeters of a heart that honors God, allowing them to become all God meant them to be. Building people who understand respect as designed by God, who have and give respect is the foundation of Heart Education.
Foundational to building a strong heart is the understanding and facilitation of respect, making it paramount. Teaching students to identify, practice and display the foundational heart skill of respect, begins with infusion through instruction into their daily activity. Instruction of Godly heart attributes includes pathways to demonstrate these attributes with appropriate vocabulary usage, and opportunities to mimic them in real life, therefore building a strong heart.
Students who can self-regulate their emotions, and translate them into appropriate, Biblically supported behaviors will be able to identify and stand in truth. Let’s face it, we spend way more time developing language and math skills than we do in teaching the heart. Although these skills are important, Heart Education is necessary!
This interactive session will provide the user-friendly Heart Education tools and practices used in building a heart foundation of respect. Heart Education instructs to solidify Christian morals and heart attributes, thereby insulating hearts against untruths and misinformation, but not isolating them from the mission of Christian witness.