Page 42 - Mousy Mouse Has a Bad Day

THE EXERCISES
The two exercises in this story “Give Me 3” and Give Me 1” are tools you can use to help your child not become a Mousy or learn how to over come their Mousy tendencies. They are simple but if used correctly and often, they can be very powerful.
The Give me 3 is an opportunity for your child to talk about the good things that happened that day and how they helped make them happen. As with Mousy, we tend to focus on the unpleasant events of the day and to draw conclusions from those events that are usually incorrect.
This exercise should be done occasionally rather than just becoming a routine recitation of the same of litany of insignificant occurrences. You should keep your “adult” expectations realistic. Children are not use to paying attention to the positive occurrences or how they helped make them happen so at first (particularly with very young children) you may need to do a little coaching.
The importance of this exercise is for them to see the positive occurrences and develop an understanding of how appropriate (Thumbs Up behavior ) can make those occurrences happen. Attending to the positive events in your life and using good social skills to maintain and increase those events will go a long way to helping avoid the Mousy Mouse syndrome.
The Give me 1 exercise is designed to develop a trusting, supportive “coaching” relationship with your child. We seen to naturally feel uncomfortable sharing our anxieties and failures with “important others” and we don’t like to evoke those negative feelings again.
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