Happy Spring-Soon Greetings
Our March Theme: Respect
We are practicing the Seven Grandfather Teachings this whole year. Each month we highlight one teaching. This month we are highlighting RESPECT.
Respect means different things to different people. Respect can look different based on your culture. In some cultures it is respectful to look into the eyes of the person you’re talking with. In another culture it is respectful to look down when talking to another person especially if the other person is an elder.
We are finishing up our social emotional lessons this month on the STEPS to Problem Solving. Knowing that we will not always agree with each other, we can show respect by first checking our own bodies and answering the following questions::
Am I calm? Are my muscles relaxed or do I feel like I need to move? Am I breathing regularly or do I feel like I can’t catch my breath?
Do I have respectful words to describe what I want and why I feel the way I do? Can I fill in the blanks to “I feel______when____________.”
By checking that you’re calm and respectfully speaking up for yourself, you can begin the problem solving process by following the S-T-E-Ps to problem solving:
S. Say the Problem. What do you want to happen? What does the other person want to happen? Is it clear what the problem is? Is saying what the problem is taking into consideration what BOTH people want?
T. Think of Solutions. Think of as many different solutions as possible so there are lots of ways to solve the problem and if the solution you choose doesn’t work, you have others to choose from.
We’ll take a look at the last two steps E. and P. at the close of this month.
Stay tuned!
RESPECT is key in problem solving. Respect yourself as well as the needs of the other person. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.