Fun with Character: The Punctionality Hunt

When you are on time, you are the one in charge of your schedule. When you are habitually late, it shows a distinct lack of control. In order to get more control or power, look at the reasons for being late. Have the students identify the reasons people are late. Prepare a few ahead of time that are age-appropriate in case you need to get the discussion going. Ask them to think about being late for school, church, sporting events, practices, etc. Trace being late back to the beginning – not putting a book bag where it belongs the night before, not writing down assignments. Identify that being late doesn’t start the minute the clock ticks past a deadline. It starts when they fail to plan. Refer back to the definition of doing the right thing at the right time. It doesn’t say to be on time. The character quality goes a little deeper and requires paying attention to what you should be doing. Tell the students they are Punctuality detectives and have them search for when the tardiness actually begins for each reason that they list on the board. Once the reasons are identified, have them come up with suggestions of what they can do to prevent that from happening again. Try to have them come up with more than one solution.

To process the activity, ask these or similar questions:

• Was it fun to be a detective?

• Did you learn anything about your habits that you can change to be more punctual?

• By associating all of the things leading up to being late, do you think you can pay more attention to doing the right thing at the right time?