Who is stronger?
Often parables resemble folk tales, especially if the heroes are forces of nature endowed with human qualities. Here is one such example.
The wind and the sun argued which of them was stronger. Suddenly they see a passerby walking. The wind says: “Now I’ll tear off his cloak.” He blew with all his might, but the passer-by only wrapped himself tighter in his clothes and continued on his way. Then the sun began to warm up. And the man first lowered his collar, then untied his belt, and finally took off his cloak and threw it over his arm. This is how it happens in our lives: with affection and warmth you can achieve more than with shouts and force.
Problems? Everything is solvable
Orthodox parables are very instructive for older children. For example, the story of the miraculous rescue of a donkey is popular. Here are its contents.
One peasant's donkey fell into a well. The owner pushed. Then I thought: “The donkey is already old, and the well is dry. I’ll cover them with earth and solve two problems at once.” I called my neighbors and they got to work. After a while, the peasant looked into the well and saw an interesting picture. The donkey threw the earth falling from above off its back and crushed it with its feet. Soon the well was filled, and the animal was at the top.
This is how it happens in life. The Lord often sends us seemingly insurmountable trials. At such a moment, it is important not to despair and not give up. Then it will be possible to find a way out of any situation.
Annunciation of the birth of Jesus.
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this sinful world to save humanity from sins and eternal destruction.
With His birth a new era began on earth. Even our chronology begins with the Nativity of Jesus Christ. The story of the birth of Jesus is amazing. Just think, He, the Son of the Creator of the world and the universe, had to be born in an animal stable. Soon the king of that country decided to kill Him. But let's start from the beginning. In the small town of Nazareth, in northern Israel, there lived a girl named Mary. She loved the Lord and had a pure heart. One day, Angel Gabriel, sent by the Lord, appeared to her and said: “Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with You; Blessed are You among women." Mary, seeing Him, was embarrassed. But the angel said to her: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with the Lord; and behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary was not married at the time, but was betrothed to a godly believer named Joseph. She asked the Angel: “How will this be when I don’t know my husband?” The angel answered her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Mary answered: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; Let it be done to me according to Your word.” And the angel departed from her. Having learned that Mary was expecting a child, Joseph wanted to let her go, but the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said: “Joseph, son of David! Do not be afraid to accept Mary your wife; for that which is born in Her is of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus; for He will save His people from their sins.” No word of the Lord remains powerless, and Mary soon gave birth to the Baby Jesus. LUKE 1:26 - 35 - Page 1 -
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Five important rules
And in general, you don’t need much to become happy. Sometimes it is enough to follow a few simple rules that are understandable to a child. Here they are:
- drive out hatred from your heart and learn to forgive;
- avoid unnecessary worries - more often than not they do not come true;
- live simply and appreciate what you have;
- give more to others;
- For yourself, expect less.
These wise sayings, on which many parables for children and adults are based, will teach you to be more tolerant of others and enjoy everyday life.
Oh hedgehog
Another question that adults often ask: “How to explain to a child that you can’t blindly trust everyone around you?” How to teach him to analyze the situation and only then make a decision? In this case, parables for young children similar to this one will come to the rescue.
Once a fox and a hedgehog met. And the red-haired woman, licking her lips, advised her interlocutor to go to the hairdresser and get a fashionable “tortoiseshell” hairstyle. “Thorns are not in fashion these days,” she added. The hedgehog was delighted with such care and set off. It’s good that he met an owl on the way. Having learned where, why and on whose advice he was going, the bird said: “Don’t forget to ask to be smeared with cucumber lotion and refreshed with carrot water.” “Why is this?” — the hedgehog didn’t understand. “And so that the fox can eat you better.” So, thanks to the owl, the hero realized that not every piece of advice can be trusted. And yet, not every “kind” word is sincere.
About the Prodigal Son
Now we quite often turn to the Bible and find in it answers to many moral questions. In this regard, it is necessary to especially note the parables given in it and told by Jesus Christ. They will tell children more about goodness and the need for forgiveness than long instructions from their parents.
Everyone knows the story of the prodigal son, who took his share of the inheritance from his father and left home. At first he led a cheerful, idle life. But the money soon ran out, and the young man was ready to eat even with the pigs. But he was driven out from everywhere, as a terrible famine struck the country. And the sinful son remembered his father. He decided to go home, repent and ask to become a mercenary. But the father, seeing his son returned, was happy. He raised him from his knees and ordered a feast. This offended the older brother, who told his father: “I’ve been next to you all my life, and you even spared a kid for me. He squandered all his wealth, and you ordered a fattened bull to be slaughtered for him.” To which the wise old man replied: “You are always with me, and everything I have will go to you. You need to rejoice in the fact that your brother seemed to have died, but now he has come to life, was lost and has been found.”
Parables for children
The collection includes parables for children about friendship, about education, short and long, for every taste. Read and gain wisdom:
About happiness: God blinded a man from clay, and he was left with an unused piece.
- What else do you need to make? - asked God. “Make me happy,” the man asked.
God did not answer anything, and only placed the remaining piece of clay in the man’s palm.
Grandfather and Death. There lived an old grandfather. He was already a hundred years old. Death learned that such an old man lived. She came to him and said:
- It's time to die, grandfather. “Let me prepare for death,” says the old man. “Okay,” Death agreed. - How many days do you need? “Three days,” answered grandfather.
Death became curious: what would the old man do, how would he prepare for death? The first day has arrived. Grandfather went out into the garden, dug a hole and planted a tree. “What will he do on the second day?” - thinks Death. The second day has arrived. Grandfather went out into the garden, dug another hole, planted another tree. “What will he do on the third day?” - Death thinks impatiently. The third day has arrived. Grandfather went out into the garden, dug another hole and planted another tree.
—Who are you planting trees for? - asks Death. - After all, you will die tomorrow. “For people,” answered the grandfather.
And Death retreated from the old man, ran away from him far, far away.
A house for a badger. There lived a badger in the forest. I didn’t know anything, didn’t want to study, but loved to give advice. No matter who does anything, he hangs around and gives advice. The badger began to build a house for himself in the fall, called the craftsmen - the hares, who instantly built this house. The badger ran over.
-Where are the windows? — Windows are not needed, it blows from them in winter. - Where is the oven? — The stove is on the edge of the forest to make the house more spacious. And you don’t have to carry firewood. The forest is nearby. - Where is the door, finally? “They nailed it to an old stump so that the badger’s guests wouldn’t bother him.”
Then the badger realized that it was impossible to live in this house, because the house was built on his own advice.
Two wolves. Once upon a time, an old man revealed one vital truth to his grandson:
“There is a struggle in every person, very similar to the struggle of two wolves. One wolf represents evil: envy, jealousy, regret, selfishness, ambition, lies. The other wolf represents goodness: peace, love, hope, truth, kindness and loyalty.
The grandson, touched to the depths of his soul by his grandfather’s words, thought for a moment, and then asked:
- Which wolf wins in the end?
The old man smiled and answered:
“The wolf you feed always wins.”
Aquarium fish. An aquarium fish fell into the river
An aquarium fish fell into the river. Local fish surrounded her, marveled at her outlandish outfit and asked how she lived at home.
- Fine! - Remembering the warm cozy aquarium, the fish answered, shivering from the cold and complained: - One thing was bad: they fed only once a day! - Well, this is easier for us! - the fish calmed her down. - Eat as much as you want! If, of course, you can...
And they rushed in all directions in search of food. The aquarium fish understood the meaning of their last words in the evening, when it had to face the night half-starved.
Good little fox . Once upon a time there lived a little fox. He was very kind. He had many friends. He often went to visit them, and all his friends were always happy to see him. But one day he fell ill with a sore throat. His friends often visited and took care of him, and his friend the little bear brought him a large barrel of honey. The little fox quickly recovered and in his small cozy house, in the middle of a huge fairy-tale forest, more than once invited his friends to taste his wonderful, delicious pies. The path of kindness and mercy is the most reliable in the world.
The cause of suffering. One wise man argued that the most common cause of suffering is that a person deliberately wants to be unhappy. That is why in absolutely identical situations one will be happy and the other will not. The sage spoke about his little daughter, who really did not want to go to summer camp. To dispel her bad mood, he gave the child several postcards, having previously addressed them to himself. — Every day, just write “I’m fine” on a card and drop it in the mailbox. The girl thought a little and asked: “How do you spell the word “bad”?” Proud deer. Author Leo Tolstoy A deer went to the river to drink, saw himself in the water and began to rejoice at his antlers that they were large and forked, and looked at his legs and said: “Only my legs are bad and thin.” Suddenly a lion jumped out and rushed at the deer. The deer started galloping across the open field. He left, and when he came into the forest, his horns got tangled in branches, and the lion grabbed him. When the time has come for the deer to die, he says: “I’m so stupid!” Those who I thought were bad and mean, they saved me, but those I was happy about, disappeared from them.
Homeless Discontent (Christian Parable) Changed Apartment Discontent. There the neighbors are too noisy, here, on the contrary, they are unsociable, here they are far from the city, here, on the contrary, in a too noisy city. They changed and changed and it got to the point where they were left without housing at all. Evil habits, of course, did not allow him to live. They just laughed at him, condemned him and waved their hand: what should they take from a homeless person? And Discontent went to the Virtues. They, of course, accepted him for a while. But none of them could withstand his character for long. And only Patience had enough patience for him. For a week, his dissatisfaction lives and endures. A month is not driving. One year - live for Christ! Discontent could spend his whole life there. Yes, dissatisfaction with the fact that Patience is inferior to him in everything did not help! So it wanders around the world, dissatisfied with everything and everyone. But not by yourself!
On this page you can read short and long, ordinary and Orthodox, small and large parables about children and parents, about friendship, about raising children, about life.
About the bad and the good
Once two friends were walking through the desert. Tired from the long journey, they argued and one rashly slapped the other. The comrade endured the pain and did not say anything in response to the offender. I just wrote in the sand: “Today I received a slap in the face from a friend.”
A few more days passed, and they found themselves at an oasis. They began to swim, and the one who received the slap almost drowned. The first comrade came to the rescue in time. Then the second carved an inscription on the stone, saying that his best friend saved him from death. Seeing this, his comrade asked him to explain his actions. And the second replied: “I made an inscription in the sand about the offense so that the wind would quickly erase it. And about salvation - he carved it in stone so that he would never forget about what happened.”
This parable about friendship for children will help them understand that bad things cannot be kept in memory for a long time. But the good deeds of other people should never be forgotten. And one more thing - you need to value your friends, since in difficult times they are often the ones who are next to a person.
About love for mother
Equally important are the relationships between family members. We often explain to children that they should show respect to their parents and take care of them. But parables for children, like the one below, will say everything better than any words.
An old man and three women were sitting by the well, and three boys were playing next to them. The first one says: “My son has such a voice that everyone will be heard.” The second boasts: “And mine can show such figures - you’ll be amazed.” And only the third is silent. The old man turns to her: “Why don’t you tell about your son?” And she replies: “Yes, there is nothing unusual about him.”
So the women fetched buckets full of water, and the old man stood up with them. They hear: the first boy sings and sounds like a nightingale. The second one walks around them like a wheel. And only the third approached the mother, took the heavy buckets and carried them home. The first two women ask the old man: “How do you like our sons?” And he answers: “Where are they? I only see one son.”
It is these short parables for children, close to life and understandable to everyone, that will teach children to truly appreciate their parents and show the true value of family relationships.
a wise man
In conclusion, I would like to turn to the text of another parable for children. It is about a traveler who settled in an unfamiliar village. The man loved children very much and constantly made unusual toys for them. So beautiful that you won’t find them at any fair. But they were all painfully fragile. The kid is playing around, and lo and behold, the toy is already broken. The child is crying, and the master is already giving him a new one, but even more fragile. The villagers asked the man why he was doing this. And the master replied: “Life is fleeting. Soon some person will give your child his heart. And it is very fragile. And I hope that my toys will teach your children to take care of this priceless gift.”
So, any parable prepares a child to face our difficult life. It unobtrusively teaches you to think about each of your actions, to correlate them with the moral norms accepted in society. Makes it clear that spiritual purity, perseverance, and readiness to overcome any adversity will help you navigate the path of life with dignity.
