Create a "Hero Book"

 

            Who does your child want to be like? Whose life inspires your child? What kind of people does your child think about from day to day, aiming to mold his or her character after?

 

            Help your child point more toward positive, constructive role models than the other kind, who are all too easy to see in today's world. You can do this by helping your child create a "Hero Book."

 

            If your child is Internet-savvy, he or she can do this alone after you give the basic materials and instructions. All you need is a three-ring binder notebook and paper for your printer that's 3-hole punched or can be.

 

            Now brainstorm with your child about people throughout history who could be considered "heroes." They should be real people, not fictional. It's OK to list only Christians, but you sure don't have to. Each person should be considered "good," although of course every hero is going to have some gray areas or even black spots. Just don't let your child veer off into glorifying people who amassed a lot of power, like Adolf Hitler, but failed to achieve goodness.

 

            Try to mix it up with the list, in terms of gender, age, nationality, race and area of contribution. Come up with a list of, say, 10 names to start. Then go to a search engine and obtain a photo of each person. Put each person's photo on a separate page, with the year born and the year died, a little about the person's life, including the nation or American state or city in which he or she lived, and then the key entry: a sentence explaining why that person is heroic.

 

            Here are some examples. How many more heroes can your child collect?

 

Aristotle

 

Alexander the Great

 

Ludwig von Beethoven

 

Sir Isaac Newton

 

Joan of Arc

 

Christopher Columbus

 

George Washington

 

Florence Nightingale

 

Mahatma Gandhi

 

Nelson Mandela

 

Amelia Earhart