Chapter 5: Help Your Parents

Help Your Parents—Exercise

This is a role playing game. Not all families get along well and this can be a tough one for some kids. It is best to take a gentle approach to this chapter and where possible have them talk about “other” kids and other families.

Have all the kids in the class get up and form two lines facing one another with a few feet of space between the lines.

Tell one line they are going to be the Parents and the other side is the Children.

Have the Parent line start by politely asking the kids line to clean up their room.  Have the kid line politely agree.

Then have the Parent line ask politely and have the kids agree but not really want to.

Then again, Parents still polite and have the kids line refuse.

Now, have the lines reverse and have each line do as above but now playing the other side of it. The Parents should ask nicely.

When they are done with this, have them stay in their lines and ask them if they know of any kids who either aren’t asked nicely or refuse to help. (It is better than asking them for a direct personal comment.)

Always acknowledge their answers so they know you have really heard them. No answers are wrong answers.

Now, have them face one another and you pick a line to be Parents. Ask the other line to tell the parents, as kids, how they would like to asked for help and have the Parents line say it back to them in the way they like.

Now, have the parents line tell the kids how they would like the kids to respond and have the Kids line do it as they like.

Ask them what else they could do to help their parents and also how they would like their parents to treat them.

You can also ask for different ways they can help around the house.

End of exercise.

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