Page 50 - G-Collard Green Garden

Exercise
The “Tell Me When” exercise is designed to have the children give each other feedback about when they or another behaved like one of the characters in the story and how it causes the other to feel. The children should have gained some understanding about the general concepts, S nky Thinking, Not OK emo ons, Thumbs Down behavior and be able to use them in their discussions.
This is an opportunity for them to see themselves as others see them and to develop some empathy for each other.
“What Do You Say and How Do You Say It” exercise is a basic asser veness rehearsal. Most children only know two ways to react, submit or ght. Even most adults have this limited repertory but they control the intensity or obviousness
of the response. Asser veness means to tell someone, in an unambiguous way, exactly what you want them to understand, in a manner not intended to upset, with appropriate non-verbal mannerisms.
Beyond the scope of What Do We Say, is that it is not necessary that the other person agree or accept your asser ve response. Since you responded asser vely as opposed to passively or aggressively, you need not be concerned if they
react nega vely and you should not allow yourself to dwell on the incident. Asser veness is about unambiguously doing what is in your best self-interest, with no inten on of purposefully causing harm to others and then ge ng on with your life.
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