Page 32 - Whoos A. Fraid

Worksheet
“There is strength in numbers”, “Birds of a feather fly together” are two truism of this page in the worksheet. Fraid desperately tries to get others to agree with his Stinky Thinking. This is a concept that is important for your children to grasp. Just because others agree with you does not mean you are correct. But as Cosmos points out, if Fraid could get others to agree with him, “he would not have to change his beliefs.”
If we accept that we are wrong, then not only must our thinking change but also our behavior. If it is not the teacher’s fault that I am making bad grades, then I must look at myself as the cause and make changes... pay attention in class and study. This realization of “being wrong” impacts on our irrational need to be “perfect” and that belief is at the core of many of the more dramatic emotional and behavioral outbursts you witness in others.
Agreeing with someone else when you know they are wrong, just to avoid having to deal with their angry reaction is an indication of our own Stinky Thinking. “If I tell him he is wrong, he will become angry (won’t like me... talk bad about me to others).”
In our story, some might agree with Fraid because they have similar beliefs and are hoping to get out of some task that they find difficult. Others may agree with him even if they know he is wrong to avoid his anger.
Finally, Fraid does find someone who agrees with him, the fox. Just as in our real world, there will be others who will agree with our most irrational thinking. Their motivation may vary but ultimately they are not really helping us. In Fraid’s case, the motivation of the fox is obvious. In the real world, the motivation for others to support our Stinking Thinking is seldom that obvious.
And since we want to believe that they are sincere, we “over look” the obvious self-serving motivations in their support, “often those who agree with you do not have your best interest at heart.”
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