Discussion, Tondomulyo, 9 November 2023
Using the Power of Goodness as our study guide , the children at Miftahul Huda Elementary School in Tondomulyo and I practice together to bring out goodness in ourselves and others. Before starting the activity, we stop. We continue this practice which calms us and helps us focus before we start the activity. The mutual agreements lead us to consistent training. We add additional agreements we have mutually agreed on, such as being able to drink or eat whenever we need it, or, when we feel tired, we can lie down. This makes the atmosphere more comfortable.
We also learn through stories. We take turns reading, paragraph by paragraph. After the story, we discuss it and relate it to our personal experiences. The children are very active in talking about their experiences. One of the interesting things was that while reflecting and sharing in a large group, several of the children talked about experiences of sharing money with friends when those friends had no money, or sharing food with others. The group responded with applause. This was one of the responses that sparked the children to be willing and brave to share other good experiences in big groups.
Being with the children at Miftahul Huda school is something I never thought about before and it is an extraordinary opportunity to be with them to learn and grow together. This motivated me to continue learning and focusing. I made it a new hobby to observe the development of each child and to try to find out the stages of development through children’s development books.