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Welcome to COOL TO BE ME @ Home
Engaging in Social and Emotional Learning together is one of the most valuable gifts you can give your child and family. Bru’Me and his friends are so excited to take you on this magical journey!
This is the Being Confident and Responsible Series. Work through each module and their respective lessons in sequential order, starting here with ‘Being Truthful’. At the end of each lesson, mark the lesson as complete, click on the ‘next lesson’ and move on. The most important thing is to have fun and use the story, activities, chats, and games to connect with your child and engage together in the wonderful world of social and emotional learning.
Building Block 1: Being Truthful
In this building block we are going to learn about being truthful.
Being Truthful or honest (with oneself and others) is a universal value. It is important for children to grow up with the knowledge and understanding that telling a hard truth is always better than telling a lie or being dishonest.
Children will experiment with this concept, which gives you the wonderful opportunity to connect them with the emotional consequences of their actions. Did your child know that when they are brave enough to be truthful about everything, they feel proud and honourable like a king? The converse is also true. Telling a lie or being dishonest leaves one feeling very guilty, fearful (of being caught out) and uncomfortable. These contrasting feelings are the most powerful motivators for your child to alway choose the truth.
The skills you will be teaching your child are self-awareness, self-regulation, values-directed behaviour and personal responsibility.
You and your child will also be exploring the value of authenticity – having the courage to be truly oneself. Young children are impressionable and can go through a developmental stage where they try and change who they are, how they act or what they like or dislike, to be more like a friend, who they believe is more cool or more popular than them. This also provides you with the opportunity to teach your child that being truly and confidently themselves is the very best they can be.
The values you and your child will be practicing are honesty, authenticity, trustworthiness and honour.
More specifically the story, activities, chats, and games in this module will teach your child:
1. My words are truthful.
• I don’t tell lies. Little lies become big lies very quickly.
• I always tell the truth, even if I get into trouble.
2. My actions are truthful.
• I don’t pretend to be like other people, just to be cool.
• I don’t pretend to like what other people like, just to be cool.
• I am always myself … and that is cool!
• I stand up for the things that I believe in.
• I stand up against the things I believe are wrong.
3. My choices are truthful.
• I always choose to do the right thing.
• I don’t cheat or steal.
• I don’t bully or hurt other people or animals.
4. I feel uncomfortable feelings in my heart when I am untruthful.
5. I am always truthful, even if it is hard and I get into trouble because it makes me feel proud and honourable … just like a king!
An Important Note for Mom and Dad
Here are some useful things to remember when teaching your children about being truthful:
- Children learn from the example you set. If you are visibly truthful and consistently choose to do the right thing, even if it is hard, so will they.
- Always be honest with your children, no matter what. They can handle a hard truth better than a lie.
- Allow children to experience the physical and emotional consequences of their choices. Adults tend to ‘harness’ the emotional consequences as either their own bitter disappointment or their own pride and delight. The following statements are very helpful in allowing children to fully experience the emotional consequences of their choices: “You should feel very proud of yourself!” “I can see you are very disappointed with yourself!”
- Create a loving and nurturing environment in which a child feels safe to make a mistake. The following statement can be very helpful: “I love you, but I really don’t agree with your choice/actions/words.”
- Always take the time to ask a child how they ‘feel’ after telling the truth or after you discover they have told a lie. If they told a lie, ask them how they would have felt if they had told the truth.
- Be sensitive to what your child says about decisions involving right or wrong and do not hesitate to firmly correct statements like, “It doesn’t matter … nobody will ever find out” or “Everybody does it.”
- Take the opportunity to talk about issues of right and wrong with your child, either from real-life experiences as they happen around you or when you are watching movies and TV together.