"Tell Me 5 Things..."

Recently, I have been trying a new tactic with my 9-year-old daughter. When she tells me, "Mommy, I am feeling a little bit sad and I don't know why." I say, "Well, why don't you tell me 5 things that you have to be happy about right now?" And she will think about it and start telling me things. The other day she said, "Can I list more than just five?" ABSOLUTELY! I have been adapting this to fit different situations -- for example, "I don't want to be 9! I want to stay a little girl!" Ok, how about trying to list five things that are great about being 9? That was a little more of a struggle for her to get started, but between us we came up with:

- She can play video games without needing Nana's help all the time! ;)
- She's responsible enough to own an iPod and a video camera
- She can go to sleepovers at her friends' houses, or have friends sleep over her own house
- She is in Girl Scouts and gets to do fun things like have a "camp-in" at the museum or zoo
- She can use the phone to call and talk to her friends or her cousins

This morning, in response to "I hate school!" I suggested that she come up with a list of five things she likes about school, which included art, music, gym, seeing friends, going to the library. After that we started one about Mondays, because she was complaining about not liking Mondays... One highlight of that list was, "There is only one Monday per week, so we don't have to go through another one this week!"

We can all get down sometimes, or feel less than enthusiastic about something that we have to do -- work, school, meeting... But this is a fun and quick little exercise to try and look on the bright side of most situations!