It’s finally time! My favorite part is here. This is what my kids always looked forward to…making Virtue Fruits to put on the Virtues Tree! Yay!

I loved doing this as the finale of our Virtues Tree 1.0 fun for each virtue. It was the perfect way to celebrate all our learning and practice of the new virtue. With each virtue we wrapped up, we’d see the Fruit grow on our Virtues Tree.

Whether you choose to do this as you start or end your Pure Heart focus, be sure to set aside time to have fun creating and hanging a Purity Papaya on your Virtues Tree.

And if you’re like me and sometimes forget to do this because sickness and vacations make the break between virtues longer than hoped, that’s fine. Just fit it in whenever you can. Your child will love it whenever you can get to it! Provided he’s not busy making a full-size paper costume of his new favorite Mixel and too busy to be bothered. 😉

Let your child get creative making a Purity Papaya (or several) for your virtues tree. If you get a papaya to explore, “purify,” and eat, first enjoy looking it over carefully to appreciate it’s characteristics. Look up pictures on the Internet if you like.

Then let your child create whatever they want for the Papaya – this is celebratory, anything goes expression. Label it in small letters on the side so you remember what it is.

Don’t skip this step. Labeling is sooo important. Because, let’s be honest, sometimes you can’t tell what the colorful blob is supposed to be. And then there’s old age and memory issues that will eventually hit if you’re human. And no one wants to be caught like a deer-in-the-headlights without an answer to their sweet child’s, “What fruit was this one?” Or, if you have multiple of the same fruit up, “Which one is mine?”

If you purchased a prototype of the Tender Sapling Virtues Tree that comes with Virtues Fruits, choose either the full-color Purity Papaya or the black and white one. If the latter, let your child go to town coloring it. All the fruits come pre-labeled so you don’t have to figure out which is which and look dumb to your child who can tell because she learned all her exotic fruits from you-don’t-know-what show.

Here is my oldest son’s original Purity Papaya. I can still taste the sweetness of that day when he labored so diligently over this fruit, intentionally deciding each detail as his creation was born:

Here are Virtues Tree mama Nuriyah’s kids’ festive Purity Papayas:

And here is a quick snap of the Purity Papaya that goes with the Tender Sapling Virtues Tree poster:

I can’t show you our current Purity Papayas because they haven’t done them yet. The youngest one is still creating paper costumes for anything that enters his mind. No joke.

Ok, you have the fruit(s) ready for the tree? And it’s labeled, right? Great. You’re ahead of me. Ha!

Now attach the Purity Papaya to the Virtues Tree to mark your family’s focus on the virtue of purity. Have a little celebration if you like.

Then continue discussing what a Pure Heart means and how you each are working on growing the fruit of a pure heart on the trees of your character. And continue to weave such discussions into your family life as you head on to explore the next virtue.

If you want to make these chats active, you can try some tree yoga together and put on your best relaxation voice to talk your child through a visualization of your tree growing the Pure Heart fruit/Purity Papaya, adding in the new fruits as you go:

Or if you try the Pure Heart Start idea with your kids, you can make it fun by playing with the Virtues Fruit. When you and/or your child need a have centering moment to get back on track, go to the Virtues Tree to:

• “pick” or invite your child to “pick” some of the Purity Papaya to help you and/or your child have a Pure Heart Start.
• Pretend you are placing some of the fruit in your and/or your child’s mouth to get some of that Pure Heart focus back and have a Pure Heart Start.

Keep it playful and fun to see if it can help turn hard moments around.

What has your experience been with the Purity Papaya? Please comment and share your ideas below. (Pictures welcome too! Send them to: virtuestree@gmail.com to be shared.)