Today I spent the day out in the gym helping the coaches train our littlest leaders on how to use our new Buddy Benches. We decided to ask the kids how they would envision using these colorful additions to our playground, then we role-played with them in starring roles how that would look, sound, and feel. Our superheroes saw them as a conflict-resolution spot, a place to rest if you're hurt and need someone to help get you to the nurse, a seat for someone who's sad or lonely and needs a friend, or simply a place to go to solve a problem. A second-grade girl encapsulated it perfectly when she summed it up like this:
It's like of like a Buddy Pick-Me-Up place!
And speaking of pick-me-ups, maybe you've seen this amazing clip about gymnast and acrobat Jennifer Bricker. If you haven't, you must watch the beauty of her story unfold. She was adopted as a newborn into a home in Illinois where the word can't simply wasn't allowed. As a result, Jennifer never saw the fact that she was born without legs as a limitation. At all.
Isn't her attitude positively contagious?
In other news, my blogging buddy Barb over at Grade ONEderful wrote this beautiful review of my book {here}. Talk about your pick-me-up! I appreciate her thoughtful insight and kind affirmations.
Finally, a cyberspace counseling colleague over at The School Counseling Files shared a link about Social Superheroes; click the graphic to read about her work and grab a super freebie. Thank you, Laurie, for keeping us in the loop!
What was your Thursday Pick-Me-Up?
I love the idea of those Buddy Benches!
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