Page 29 - Mousy Mouse Has a Bad Day

You may need to talk with your teacher or parent to get help with the language of refusal: “I am sorry that you don’t have your homework but I don’t want you to copy mine.” You may need a friend to help you practice what to say and how to say it:
“Look them in the eye and say it strongly but not with anger.” Then you will need to be prepared for the possible response of the other person. In this example, you could anticipate that the other person might react with begging for help or threats to no longer be your friend. Discuss these possible reactions with others and how you could handle them.
At first, the “give me one” issue may be pretty minor and the alternative behavior obvious. Ask others if they will help you with your “Give me one” project. If you don’t have this type of interaction with parents or friends already, it will be just as new to them as to you. Accept what they are willing to help you with and do the rest on your own.
Parents of young children often hear other parents say, “Small children... small problems, big children... big problems.” Many of these problems are caused by the thinking of the children. In this case the perfectionistic, comparison thinking is the same for the small and big children.
The difference is that the behaviors they can engage in as big children may be much more dangerous (drug use and permanent (arrest or school expulsion. If you can overcome the irrational thinking illustrated in our Mousy story, your parents may never have to deal with the “big child” problems that this type of thinking will cause. And they will have, A VERY NICE DAY.
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