Posted by Dad…
We’ll let you in on a little Secret to happiness in life. No, not positive thinking or another new-ageism, though those can help!
It is good old fashioned pep talks – no seriously.
In your family they might be called coaching sessions, lectures, sermons, lessons, advice and they may be as welcome or disdained as ours can be – pending proximity of the next closest opportunity to eat or nap. So here is a sample of how they work using template P-4u2 from the Oddly Handicapable Buchwald handbook of life.
In helping out a friend with a problem of the lady kind, we used the template below to great success (at least in our minds, no matter what the lecturee has to say).
This version of the P-4u2 pep talk is offered out free for use, provided you comment back on your results.
We hope that it will function as a swiss army knife in your repertoire any time you need to give a little self esteem, advice or just get a laugh to restore in others that endless positive energy and goodwill attitude that feeds the world – even if it did not exist as part of their personality before. Step aside Knute Rockne, Oprah and Phil, cause if this works, we’re challenging the Family Guy, Osbornes and the Simpsons for most cohesive family unit!
In order to make the process more user friendly, we have included simple prompts as to when to use the person’s name and when to allow them to speak.
This will also be another one of those pages we should just print out, sign and place in Zoe’s Psychotherapy binder (boy are we going to skate through that process!):
Generic Pep Talk P-4u2
(Copyright 2008, Zoe Buchwald, www.mushybaby.com)
- You know what you are, (Person’s name, last name or nickname)? Switzerland! You know what Switzerland is?
(Lecturee response allowed here)
- Yes, I know, a country. Do you know what else?
(Lecturee response allowed here)
- Alright, technically it is a continent and not an island. I get it, the country itself is totally landlocked, but thats where I’m going, (Person’s name, last name or nickname).
(Lecturee response allowed here)
- No, we are not going to Switzerland, Switzerland is on a continent and a continent is made of a rocks, just like islands – a rock is an island.
(Lecturee response allowed here)
- Yes, this is supposed to be a metaphor, but you know what else besides that?
(Lecturee response allowed here)
- It’s an island!
(Lecturee response allowed here)
- O.k., it’s not an island, but it is on one, I mean a continent, errr, rock!
(Lecturee response allowed here)
- No, we are not going rock climbing, hunting or skiing to get away from your issue here.
(Lecturee response allowed here)
- No, we are not defecting, immigrating or anything else. don’t evade the issue here.
(Lecturee response allowed here)
- OK, this isn’t coming out right – Switzerland is a country, you are the rock! be strong here!
(Lecturee response allowed here)
- No, I didn’t mean you are as smart as a rock, I meant that you (Insert moral here).
(Lecturee gratitude allowed here)
So try it out on your family, friends and co-workers and report back! We need to get any kinks tweaked out before we need to use it on Zoe!
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