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This Week · Courage

Courage — what does it mean to be brave when you're still scared?

For littler ones: When something feels scary, what helps you do it anyway?

Courage — What does it mean to be brave when you're still scared?

Real bravery rarely waits for the fear to leave. More often it shows up with your heart still pounding — you go anyway, scared and all. This week we're wondering what that actually feels like, and whether being brave and being afraid might be two things that happen at the same time. A good one to chew on in the car, when nobody has to land on the right answer.

This week's stories

American

Harriet Tubman and the North Star

Born enslaved, Harriet Tubman escaped to the North, then went back into danger again and again to lead others out, traveling by night and steering by the same bright star.

American

Ruby Bridges Walks to School

In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges walked into a New Orleans school past angry crowds who didn't want her there — one small girl going up the steps, morning after morning.

Classics

Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack trades the family cow for a handful of beans, climbs the vine into a giant's castle, and creeps through it knowing full well what waits at the top.

Talk about it

  • When you've felt scared of something, what happened in your body — where did you feel it?
  • Is there a difference between someone who isn't afraid and someone who's afraid and does it anyway?
  • What helps you do a hard thing — having someone with you, knowing why it matters, or something else?

A new question every week.

Listen together in the app — short audio stories for kids 4–10, at bedtime, on the drive, in the drop-off line.

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