We were having a bit of a problem in our house, in the sibling rivalry department.
The Thriving Family Magazine from Focus on the Family mysteriously appeared in our mailbox and I flipped through it and found this article on Gentleness.

What could I lose?

Now, I will say that these little activities helped us understand gentleness and what the Bible says about it.  We had fun.  We prayed and read the Bible together.  But the sibling rivalry department is still experiencing problems.   I’m beginning to think it’s a problem that requires constant supervision . . . for the next 18+ years.  Am I right?

Anyway, one morning William looked up our verse.  And then I gave each person in our family a raw egg.  We wrote our names on them and put them in ziploc bags (triple checked to make sure they were sealed).  We traded our eggs and for the next two hours, we had to hold someone else’s egg, being gentle so it would not break.

We talked about how we should be gentle with others– in our words and our actions.  We can break someone’s spirit by hurting their feelings or not listening to them.  As a family, it’s vital that we are gentle with one another.  And, most importantly, we are gentle because God’s Word commands us to.

After talking and praying, and patting ourselves on the back that we were being STELLAR parents by not only having family devotions, but tacking an object lesson along with it, it came time to trade our eggs back to the original owner (note the sarcasm).

Lo and behold, not only had a certain child’s egg been smashed, there was not a bit of shell to be found in the ziploc.  Please tell me how one can accomplish that feat?

This is early in the breakage.  No evidence exists of the shell-less egg so as not to encourage non-gentleness.

Gentleness.
Next time, I may boil the eggs first.

P.S.  Bonus Pic!  This is how I found Eliza that day after her nap.  She is a silly one!