Bossing Herself Around

I've been teaching all our students how to recognize and calm down strong feelings so that they can think clearly and decide to do the right thing. One of the calming down ideas is to take a deep breath and "boss yourself around", which simply means to use self-talk. 

Well, a friend of mine told me an adorable story last night. This friend is a fellow educator and also has a child in my school. Her little girl was very disappointed about something that happened this week and was telling her mom about it. The first grader said that she had felt really sad and wanted to cry, but then she thought about what her mom would want her to do. Pointing her "bossing finger" at herself, she said, "Suck it up, Sistah!" and dried up her tears!

I loved hearing this and will use this brave little girl's example to encourage other children!