Simon the ruler

Continuing along our theme this week of dictatorships, we discussed the difference between leaders and rulers. According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, they are defined as follows:

• Ruler–any one that exercises supreme power over others.
• Leader–One who goes first; a guide. (I rearranged these a bit.)

There is a marked difference between the two. One seems benevolent and one does not. We discussed the differences and the type of government these two would look like. We also talked about the responsibility of the people under these types of civil government. Here is what she reasoned:

• The people have no need for self-government under a ruler. They are told everything.
• The people have some need for self-government with a leader because it is up to them to follow.

We created a page with flaps that fold up to see what’s underneath. We defined them both (above), listed the responsibility of the people and gave an example of both from real 7 year-old life.

The Holy Spirit gave me an idea as we were talking about what these two types look like to a kid. Here’s what we discovered:

• Simon Says: ruler. You are told what to do. You can govern from anywhere. There is no mercy (one miss and you’re out)
• Follow the Leader: leader. You are shown what to do. The leader must be in front to set the example. There is mercy because even if you miss something you can still start again.

This was really fun. We played both games so she could follow and see which one she would rather follow. Of course she chose the leader. But for a moment she thought she might like to be the ruler. I see we still have some work to do!