What better way to encourage your child to forgive than to let him make his own friendship band and tie it around the wrist of a friend he finds difficult to forgive?

Use magazines or newspaper to cut out pictures representing mother, father, and children and paste them to ice cream sticks. Use these as puppets and weave a story to help your child understand forgiveness.

Cut out the shape of a heart from chart paper, scribble on it and give it to your child. Now, ask your child to clean the pencil marks on the heart using an eraser. Explain how important it is for him to erase any differences he has with his friends and forgive them.

Ask your child to gift-wrap an empty box and decorate it. Then, explain to him how forgiveness is like that gift - a gift that only he can give to someone. Ask him to imagine how happy his friend would feel to receive that gift.

Give your child your pair of shoes and ask him to walk in it for a while. Then, explain to him how it is difficult for him to walk as the shoes aren't his. Similarly, only if he tries to walk in his friend's shoes will he understand his friend's point of view and learn to forgive.

Have a role-play with one sibling saying something harsh to the other. In return, the other sibling should smile back. A smile can do wonders. It can wipe away hurt and bitterness.

Ask your child to say a silent prayer and bless the person who hurt him. The more he does this, the easier it would be for him to forget the hurt and forgive the person who caused the hurt.