We live in a neighborhood full of boys. Out of the 12 or 13 of them, 3 go to church (and 2 are brothers - I'll call them Billy and Bobby 
- and one goes to church with friends occasionally). My 6 and 8 year olds love to hang out with one that is sneaky, tells lies, and has a smart mouth, which I have seen myself - I'll call him Joe. Yesterday, Billy, Bobby and my 6 y.o. decided to build a club/fort. Joe came along and they told him that he couldn't play (their parents do not allow them to play with Joe because of the characteristics I mentioned earlier). So, my 6 y.o. went off with Joe to build their own fort. Billy and Bobby decided to call their club the "We hate Joe" club. This morning, my 6 y.o. went out and got Joe, they played for a while and came in and Joe informed me of the club Billy and Bobby built and said, "so lets just say I done some damage to their fort." When asked what they did, my son and Joe told me how they took the cushion off a chair and threw it into the briars and took a chair and set it out in a field. Now, my first reaction was to tell my son he's not allowed to play with Joe anymore because he's just not a good influence pretty much in all areas. But, then I thought this would be a good Bible lesson. Revenge is not how God would want him to handle that, nor would He want him following someone who is acting as the trouble maker and not a peacemaker - now granted, Billy and Bobby should not have named their club such a thing, but most of life is how you react to it. While it's easier to do better when you're around people of good moral character, it's when you're around the ones who aren't that reveals YOUR character - and how you handle yourself around such people can improve your witness, or damage it. That's what I want to teach him - but it seems like a lot of info for a 6 y.o. to process. How would you handle this?
- and one goes to church with friends occasionally). My 6 and 8 year olds love to hang out with one that is sneaky, tells lies, and has a smart mouth, which I have seen myself - I'll call him Joe. Yesterday, Billy, Bobby and my 6 y.o. decided to build a club/fort. Joe came along and they told him that he couldn't play (their parents do not allow them to play with Joe because of the characteristics I mentioned earlier). So, my 6 y.o. went off with Joe to build their own fort. Billy and Bobby decided to call their club the "We hate Joe" club. This morning, my 6 y.o. went out and got Joe, they played for a while and came in and Joe informed me of the club Billy and Bobby built and said, "so lets just say I done some damage to their fort." When asked what they did, my son and Joe told me how they took the cushion off a chair and threw it into the briars and took a chair and set it out in a field. Now, my first reaction was to tell my son he's not allowed to play with Joe anymore because he's just not a good influence pretty much in all areas. But, then I thought this would be a good Bible lesson. Revenge is not how God would want him to handle that, nor would He want him following someone who is acting as the trouble maker and not a peacemaker - now granted, Billy and Bobby should not have named their club such a thing, but most of life is how you react to it. While it's easier to do better when you're around people of good moral character, it's when you're around the ones who aren't that reveals YOUR character - and how you handle yourself around such people can improve your witness, or damage it. That's what I want to teach him - but it seems like a lot of info for a 6 y.o. to process. How would you handle this? 
