Feelings Book

I have not long finished watching an episode of Super Nanny on YouTube and as some of you may know I am a trained nanny/nursery nurse - I have a NAMCW (National Association for Maternal and Child Welfare) diploma in Human Development, Child Care and Social Responsibility and a BTEC National Diploma in Caring Services (Nursery Nursing). No amount of nanny training can gear you up for motherhood, although one may have a bit more childcare nonse than someone who has had no prior experience with children. 

Jo Frost (Super Nanny) had an idea for a very strong-willed child, and that was a 'Thoughts Box' - which brought to mind something I did for my eldest son, who found it difficult to express his feelings, a few years back. I bought him a black leather look book so that he could write his feelings in it - with confidence, knowing that it was completely private. 

I feel it's very important for children to be able to express what they are feeling inside and if they can't vocalise it, but find it easier to write it down then that's the medium to use. If a child has difficulty writing their feelings down but find vocalising them easier, then perhaps the child could be bought a dictaphone. 

A few years ago super nanny wound me up no end, because as far as I can remember she has no children of her own, but a lot of her strategies are really good when dealing with badly behaved children. We all have to do what works for us and our children - with prayer and guidance from Scripture, of course...

Consequences

Yesterday (Tuesday 1st January 2013) my family and I went to some really good friends' house for dinner and a fun evening. We chatted quite a bit (to catch up as we haven't seen them in absolutely ages) and we also played a fun game called Consequences - it's better to have about 6 people playing. Here's how it goes:

• Each player starts off with a blank piece of paper.
• First of all a male name is written on the top and the paper is folded over.
• The paper is passed to the person on their left (or right - doesn't matter so long as the papers pass in the same direction)
• Then a female name is written on it (don't peek at the male name) - fold the top over to hide the name and pass the paper on
• Then write where they met (doesn't have to be a town or city - we had the poop deck of the Titanic as something someone wrote). Fold the paper and pass it on
• Next write what the man said to the woman - fold and pass on
• Then write her reply - fold and pass on 
• Finally write the consequence e.g. she ran away crying
• Put all the papers in the middle and each player chooses one so that the 'story' can be retold.

So when I was writing one of mine (for example) I thought of this story:

Hairy Harry Pickleswade
Victoria Fudgecake-Smythe
School kitchen near the toilet block
"Do you fancy a date?"
"No I fancy the postman"
He went away with his tail between his legs and a long face, but what would you expect from a horse)

OK the 'story' is really silly but it gets sillier because my 'story' wasn't written on one piece of paper, but 6 seperate ones. So the story may have ended up saying (for example)

Hairy Harry Pickleswade met Hilary Clinton on the poop deck of the Titanic. He said to her, Whatcha luv?
She said - I ate a mango for breakfast. The consequence was, they drank sodas on the beach. 

The next story may read:

Attila the Hun met Victoria Fudgecake-Smythe on moon base alpha. etc

We were in stitches at some of the stories :)