Tagged: “Forgiveness Education”
Has forgiveness education in schools been researched and found fruitful?
Yes, forgiveness education has been researched over 20 times in different cultures of the world with both children and adolescents. The research shows that children can learn about what forgiveness is; they can learn to forgive those who acted unfairly; and they can reduce their anger toward those who were unfair. Here is a reference to a study that examined these forgiveness education programs worldwide:
Rapp, H., Wang Xu, J., & Enright, R.D. (2022). A meta-analysis of forgiveness education interventions’ effects on forgiveness and anger in children and adolescents. Child Development, 93, 1249-1269.https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13771
If a parent keeps asking a child to forgive the parent, won’t that seem like forcing a child to forgive?
You raise an important point. If a parent insists on forgiveness, this may be giving the wrong message that the child must forgive. The parent needs forgiveness education to know that the offer of forgiveness is the child’s choice, when the child is ready. It is best, in my view, if the child is drawn to the beauty of forgiveness rather than seeing it as a grim obligation that is forced upon the child. In other words, the parent needs a gently approach when asking for forgiveness.
If teachers of elementary school children teach forgiveness education and then the child goes home to parents who discourage forgiveness, what is your opinion of the effectiveness of the school-based instruction?
It is difficult to know the answer to this because each situation will be different. Yet, it seems to me that if forgiveness education is consistent across years in school, the student will have a chance to understand accurately what forgiveness is and is not. The children then have the opportunity to choose forgiveness for themselves as they see the norm in school that forgiveness is worthwhile.
Do you think that forgiveness is something that should be taught formally in schools?
What is the purpose of education? Isn’t it to prepare children for adulthood? We prepare children to read. We prepare children to balance a checkbook. Why do we not prepare them for the injustices that likely will visit each child in adulthood? Yes, I do think we need forgiveness education in schools so that, when the students grow into adulthood and experience cruelty, sometimes unexpected and deep cruelty, we will have equipped them with how to recover from that through forgiveness, if the person now chooses forgiveness as a free will decision. Further, it would be important to teach the teamwork of forgiving and justice-seeking so that the child does not equate forgiving with giving in to the other’s unfairness.
‘Puppets for Peace’ video presentations now featured in Pre-K and Kindergarten IFI curriculum
Mary Lou Coons, who was recognized with a Partnership Achievement Award in December 2022 by the International Forgiveness Institute (IFI), is a ventriloquist and the founder of Puppets for Peace. She has recently produced, together with her red-haired puppet Lily, video recordings of all the children’s books referenced and used in Dr. Enright’s Pre-K and Kindergarten IFI curriculum guides including:
Mary Lou Coons, Founder of ‘Puppets for Peace’, and her red-haired puppet, Lily.
PRE-K
- You Are My I Love You
- No Matter What
- Fill a Bucket
- I Love My New Toy
- A Birthday for Frances
- Papa, Do You Love Me?
KINDERGARTEN
- I Love You Stinky Face
- Little Fur Family
- It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny
- Will You Forgive Me?
- The Runaway Bunny
The videos, which range between roughly three to six minutes, include an introduction by Lily with Mary Lou reading the entire book, word for word. She also produced a 10-minute video recording of Dr. Enright’s Rising Above the Storm Clouds (part of the 4th-grade curriculum program), the only video version of the book available anywhere.
The IFI offers teachers and others who obtain curriculum guides a directory of online video recordings that can supplement the guides and be shown to students who are learning about forgiveness. We are extremely grateful to Mary Lou that we can now include her ‘Puppets for Peace’ videos as supplements for the Pre-K, K, and 4th-grade curriculum!
