Teaching a Child Compassion- More pictures from Kamal's Day soon to be released by Baha'i Publishing Trust.

Illustration from Kamal's Day, published by Bellwood Press.

How do you get across the idea to a child that they could pray for a friend if they get hurt? That has been on my mind many times when I've taken care of children, in my own family or when I worked with children. How you share with them the idea that they can ask God to help themselves or a friend when they get hurt? How do you teach compassion? Or can it actually be taught? Maybe the best thing to do is just to recognize it and encourage it when it happens naturally.

In light of this I included the idea of praying for a friend in my picture book, Kamal's Day, soon to be released by Bellwood Press, an imprint of The US Baha'i Publishing Trust. In the afternoon of Kamal's day he plays outside with some friends, and one of them falls and gets hurt. Kamal goes to get an ice pack and says a silent healing prayer for him. This is the prayer he says:

Kamal says a healing prayer to himself , for his friend!

"Thy Name is my healing O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, The All-wise."- Baha'u'llah

Here is a cute video of a girl singing something called "the Boo Boo song". What a great way to deal with falling down and getting hurt!

An Illustration I did quite a while ago for Brilliant Star Magazine,  a magazine for children of middle school age, published by The National Spiritual Assembly of The Baha'is of The US.