Ouch! That Hurts
Hurting people hurt people
by Alexandra Palmer
Suitable for Key Stage 3
Aims
To consider why people who feel hurt might hurt others.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Ouch! That Hurts) and the means to display them.
- You will also need the Bible passage at Luke 15.11-32. It is available at: https://tinyurl.com/f882hctt
Assembly
- Show Slide 1.
Ask the students, ‘In what ways can we feel hurt?’
Pause to allow time for discussion. - Explain that we can feel hurt in many ways: physically, emotionally and mentally.
- Tell the students that Jesus told a story to teach people about God’s love. We call it the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In the story, the three characters – the father, his elder son and his younger, prodigal son - all felt hurt at different times and in different ways.
Read, or ask a student to read, the Bible passage at Luke 15.11-32. - Ask the students, ‘Who was feeling hurt at the start of the story?’
- The younger son was feeling hurt emotionally and mentally because he felt stuck at home. He felt like he was missing out on life, so he wanted to leave.
- The elder son was feeling hurt emotionally because he felt cross with his brother for leaving, which meant that he would have more work to do on the land.
- The father was feeling hurt emotionally because his son had demanded his inheritance and had left home before he was mature enough. The father might have felt hurt mentally too, worrying that he might have done something wrong in bringing up his son.
- Ask the students, ‘Who was feeling hurt in the middle of the story?’
- The younger son was feeling hurt physically because he was hungry. He was feeling emotionally and mentally hurt too, because all of the people who had pretended to be his friends had left him after his money ran out.
- We don’t know how the father and his elder son felt at this moment, but they might have been emotionally upset because they didn’t know where the youngest son was or if he was safe. - Ask the students, ‘Who was feeling hurt at the end of the story?’
- The younger son wasn’t feeling hurt: he was relieved because he had returned home and his father had forgiven him.
- The father may have felt hurt emotionally because his elder son was cross that he’d welcomed his younger brother home without setting any consequences. Like his younger son, the father must have felt happy and relieved that he had returned home. He showed this by throwing a party for his son.
- The elder son was feeling hurt emotionally because his father had welcomed his brother with open arms, even going so far as to throw a party for him. This led the elder son to feel angry and jealous: he wanted a party to be held in his own honour, to acknowledge all the extra work that he had done while his brother had been away.
Time for reflection
Ask the students why people who feel hurt might hurt others.
Listen to a range of responses.
Suggest that people who hurt others might be hungry for something.
Explain that we can all be hungry for things other than food, such as being hungry for our feelings to be acknowledged and to receive praise.
- We might be hungry for friends, and feel jealous if our friends aren’t spending time with us, or sad if we feel like they’re ignoring us.
- Sometimes, we feel hungry for love from the people who look after us, or for praise from the people who teach us.
- When it’s our birthday or Christmastime, we might feel hungry for new things because our friends have the latest thing, and we don’t.
- When things don’t go our way, we might feel angry, but we might also feel hungry for a decision to go our way next time.
Show Slide 2.
Read the quotation on the slide by Charlie Mackesy: ‘Tears fall for a reason and they are your strength, not weakness.’
Ask the students, ‘What does the quotation mean?’
Pause to allow time for discussion, and then listen to a range of responses.
To have good physical, emotional and mental health, it’s important to be able to say how we’re feeling. Crying shows that we can express our emotions rather than hiding them away. This takes inner strength. Our feelings and emotions matter - we can learn from them.
Remind the students of what is available in school if they feel like they need to talk to someone following today’s assembly.
