Siblings

Your kids might relate to the sibling conflict in Joseph’s story. While sibling discord is common in most families, some kids suffer traumatic experiences with siblings, including abuse and bullying. Up to 80 percent of kids reported experiencing some sort of serious mistreatment from a sibling.* If your child expresses concern about a sibling’s actions, don’t take it too lightly and also remember many things may happen you don’t see. In this week’s Brite lesson, kids will learn God can use their hurts and bad experiences for good, but that doesn’t mean He is okay with people hurting them. Forgiveness allows them to move forward. It does not say that the mistreatment was okay. Help the siblings in your home navigate forgiveness and continue to champion treating each other with love and kindness.

Here’s how we discussed this topic and how you can discuss it at home: 

Discuss: What are some problems siblings may have with each other?

Discuss: Is it easy to forgive your sibling when they hurt you?

Discuss: What does God have to say about that?

Say: You may have heard that forgiving someone means that what they did to you is okay. In today’s story, Joseph was treated very badly by his brothers. In the end he was able to forgive them and see how God used the situation for good. That doesn’t mean what the brothers did was okay. Sometimes we get hurt, even by the people who love us. God wants siblings to be kind and loving to one another. If someone is hurting you, it is okay to ask a safe grown-up for help. If someone has hurt you in the past, forgiving them does not mean that what happened didn’t matter. Forgiveness does help our hearts and helps our hurt. While we can’t go back and change what’s happened in the past, we can trust that our God will use it for good.