I thought that perhaps children growing up in our society, with muscular superheroes serving as roll models, would equate being brave with physical strength or fearlessness. But they all realized that being scared and being brave go together; you can't have one without the other! As Nelson Mandela said, "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."
I asked the children in my class if they could remember a time when they felt brave. One kindergarten student recounted a memory when her mother hurt herself pretty badly and she had to walk with her to get help. She said she was scared, but she did it anyway. What a great example of being brave!
After our talk, I read the book Life Doesn't Frighten Me. The book includes a poem by Maya Angelou and paintings by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. It is about a little girl who remains brave in the face of the many frightening things happening in the world around her.
