Family Home Evening: Choices and Consequences

During my almost 20 years as an elementary school counselor, one of the biggest challenges facing the teachers was the fact that so many of their students did not understand the simple concept that choices have consequences.  Once you make the choice, the consequence will - sooner of later- follow.  I spent a lot of time in classrooms teaching children that very thing.

With the younger students, I had a stick puppet named "Mr. Consequences." (No, he wasn't Fred Astaire; he just dressed like him!)He was drawn by a former colleague of mine and all of the elementary counselors used him.  He was a very sober looking fellow in a tuxedo with a bowler hat.  There were two of him - one with a happy face and one with a sad face.  The two sides were glued back to back on a ruler (he was about 8" tall) and I would tell the children stories with different scenarios and different choices.  They would then tell me which face Mr. Consequence would have as a result of the choice.  I made up my own stories so I could tailor-make them to the needs of the particular students.  The children loved the game.

Today, there are so many wonderful images on the internet that parents could print and make stick puppets with craft sticks.  Here are some ideas that could be used that express other uncomfortable emotions than just sad.  In a family with several children, you could give each child a different puppet.  It would make a wonderful Family Home Evening lesson.

I found these pictures on https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images.  Think up some stories that are relative to you family - because all families are different - and make the puppets.  Let me know how it goes.