Friday, November 18, 2011

You Call It!

We are a little over 3 weeks away from our 5k event! I am so proud of how hard all the girls tried at our practice 5k last week. The girls were all excited to be wearing the tutus they each made. After they completed the 3.2 miles, they were rewarded with a special healthy treat (smoothies!) and a certificate. For some of the girls running or walking a 5k was a huge achievement. Although they were tired, I think they felt really good about themselves!
This week has been all about celebrating the girl’s accomplishments. On Tuesday, we started our lesson by doing an activity to remind us how important it is to stay positive. The girls were presented with several different situations in which they had to give examples of how a girl with a negative attitude might act in each situation. The final part of the activity was 6 stations that reviewed the ways we have learned to cope with negative feelings. The stations included:
1.        UNPLUG and PLUG IN – reach above your head and unplug from the negative chord and pop in the positive chord.
2.      GRATITUDE is an ATTITUDE – write down one thing for which you are grateful.
3.      KEEP A JOURNAL – Write something in the journal that you want to scream out to the world.
4.      MEDITATE – Practice one of the breathing or relaxation techniques that you have learned for at least one minute.
5.      OWN YOUR MISTAKES and LEARN FROM THEM – Take a minute to think about a time you made a mistake and write it down here.
6.      DANCE – Take a few minutes and dance to your heart’s content!
Could keeping a positive attitude, being grateful, expressing our feelings, taking time to think to ourselves, admitting our mistakes, and just taking time to be silly and have fun improve our lives? Could doing these things help us be the change we want to see in the world? Ask your daughter what she thinks she can do each day to help make the world the way she wants it to be.
            We finished our session on Tuesday with lesson on healthy relationships. The girls discussed what they should look for in relationships, both with friends and significant others. The girls engaged in a great conversation about why it’s important to respect themselves in all their relationships. They each also took home a packet of information on the topic.
            Yesterday lesson was called “You Call It!” We took an hour to relax. Girls made friendship bracelets, played card games, and used the Xbox Kinect to play an adventure game. The girls each took a turn playing songs for each other and got to share a little bit of their personalities with the group. Reminder:  we will not be meeting next week due to Thanksgiving. Practices will resume on November 29th. Happy Thanksgiving!