Page 27 - Mousy Mouse Has a Bad Day

EXERCISES
GIVE ME 3 / GIVE ME 1
Most of your parents get into the habit of asking you, “How was your day?” You get into the habit of responding, “It was OK.” What have your parents learned...nothing. What have you learned... nothing. This exercise is designed to get you to focus on the real and the positive.
Give Me 3
At the end of your school day, take a few free minutes and write down three good things that happened that day. When you first start this, it may be difficult to think of five things. A good thing could range from catching the bus on time (particularly if that has been a problem), to making an acceptable grade on a test, to making a
new friend.
At first, these “good things” may be pretty simple but that is okay. As with any new skill, when you start, the quality may not be much but the effort will be. Now write down why these things are good and how did you help make them happen.
As with the character Mousy in the story, some children are more attentive to negative events than to positive events. There was a cartoon in the newspaper that beautifully illustrated this tendency. In the first panel, a mother braids her young daughter’s hair and tells her how nice it looks. In the next two panels, various children and teachers at school tell her how nice her braids look. In the next to last panel, a boy, who is drawn to look like the class bully, makes fun of her hair. In the final panel, the daughter arrives home after school with her hair undone. Her mother asks her why she took out the braids and the daughter replies, “Everyone hated it!”
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