“How many times have I told you what I want from you is not a good grade but your getting along with each other?”
This is what I say every time my children quarrel. My son and daughter who are both in elementary school seem to regret what they did the moment I scold them, but soon after, they easily squabble again. Wondering how I could help them get along, I came up with an idea: I decided to give a star sticker to the one who yielded to the other, and to award them with some pocket money when they gathered ten stickers.
They prepared some paper where they were going to put the stickers, and discussed how they were going to yield to each other, and they started! My daughter, who is in the second grade, brought a glass of water to her brother and even yielded her ice cream to him. While she was yielding like that to collect star stickers, my son seemed to have a hard time yielding. He collected only two star stickers, and wrote in very tiny letters next to the stickers, “Yielding is really hard.”
So I gave him a tip that yielding would be easy if he loved his sister. Then there was a change in him. When it was time to eat or go to school or watch TV, he yielded everything to his sister, saying, “You can go ahead first.” Then he was able to collect more star stickers than his sister.
At first, they yielded to each other to collect stickers and get pocket money, but now they learn how to take care of and be considerate of each other. They look so adorable. Heavenly Mother must feel happy when we yield and are considerate to one another. Always keeping in mind that yielding and being considerate is not hard when we love someone, I too will try hard to receive heavenly stars as rewards by yielding good things to my spiritual brothers and sisters.