Have a strategy!

In our shows we call them, ditties.  Little ditties that help us get a point across:

What should you do when you are frustrated?

• Stop, Breathe and Think.

What should you do when you need to think?

• Sit down in your thinking chair and think, think, think!

And my favorite, what should you do when you lose something….

• When you lose something…go back, go back, go back to where you were!

This is my favorite at the moment because it …I’ve used it at home and it works!  It really did.  Instead of my usual mom response when one of my daughters can’t find their backpack (and it works, too, when my husband has lost the keys for the hundredth time):  Are you kidding me?  It’s your backpack so you-should-know-where-it-is!  Can you imagine if I wrote that in a script?  If Steve looked at Blue and was flabbergasted with her for losing her backpack?  No, Steve would spend 22 minutes finding clues to figure out where her backpack was.  But, okay, I’m not in an animated world where Salt and Pepper Shakers make my lunch.  And, no, we don’t have 22 minutes to solve this dilemna.  So, I took a deep breath and recited the ditty, “When you lose something, go back, go back, go back to where you were!”  Not only did it break the tension, (diffuse with humor!  More on that later!), but it was a successful strategy.  My daughter went back, and back, and back …until she found it.  Under the couch.  Go figure…