1.15 Self Esteem and Scrapbooking
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National Challenge:
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Gathering Activity (in their circles)
- Attendance and dues
- Draw a "fun alone" picture for their scrapbook. (6"x6") (note: printed on legal sized paper, then cut down to two 6"x6" sheets)
Opening
- Circle Songs
- Brownie Song
Discussion
- Talk about Girl Empower challenge (note: we gave lots of opportunities for the girls to provide input in this discussion).
- The Girl EmPower Challenge encourages girls to think about healthy, equal, and non-violent relationships.
- Last week we did the Love Birds activity which had us thinking about how we feel when we are loved. Those good feelings happen when we are in a “healthy” relationship.
- This week we are going to do two more activities from this challenge: we are going to first do an activity about “self esteem”, which is how you feel about yourself
- What Is Self-Esteem? (from http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/emotion/self_esteem.html#)
- To understand self-esteem, it helps to break the term into two words. Let's take a look at the word esteem (say: ess-teem) first. Esteem is a fancy word for thinking that someone or something is important or valuing that person or thing. For example, if you really admire your friend's dad because he volunteers at the fire department, it means you hold him in high esteem. And the special trophy for the most valuable player on a team is often called an esteemed trophy. This means the trophy stands for an important accomplishment.
- And self means, well, yourself! So put the two words together and it's easier to see what self-esteem is. It's how much you value yourself and how important you think you are. It's how you see yourself and how you feel about your achievements.
- Self-esteem isn't bragging about how great you are. It's more like quietly knowing that you're worth a lot (priceless, in fact!). It's not about thinking you're perfect — because nobody is — but knowing that you're worthy of being loved and accepted.
- Self-esteem isn't like a cool pair of sneakers that you'd love to have but don't have to have. A kid needs to have self-esteem. Good self-esteem is important because it helps you to hold your head high and feel proud of yourself and what you can do. It gives you the courage to try new things and the power to believe in yourself. It lets you respect yourself, even when you make mistakes. And when you respect yourself, adults and other kids usually respect you, too.
- Having good self-esteem is also the ticket to making good choices about your mind and body. If you think you're important, you'll be less likely to follow the crowd if your friends are doing something dumb or dangerous. If you have good self-esteem, you know that you're smart enough to make your own decisions. You value your safety, your feelings, your health — your whole self! Good self-esteem helps you know that every part of you is worth caring for and protecting.
- here are a few things that you can try to increase your self-esteem:
- Make a list of the stuff you're good at. It can be anything from drawing or singing to playing a sport or telling a good joke. If you're having trouble with your list, ask your mom or dad to help you with it. Then add a few things to the list that you'd like to be good at. Your mom or dad can help you plan a way to work on those skills or talents.
- Give yourself three compliments every day. Don't just say, "I'm so great." Be specific about something good about yourself, like, "I was a good friend to Jill today" or "I did better on that test than I thought I would." While you're at it, before you go to bed every night, list three things in your day that really made you happy.
- Remember that your body is your own, no matter what shape, size, or color it is. If you are worried about your weight or size, you can check with your doctor to make sure that things are OK. Remind yourself of things about your body that are cool, like, "My legs are strong and I can skate really well."
- Remember that there are things about yourself you can't change. You should accept and love these things — such as skin color and shoe size — because they are part of you.
- When you hear negative comments in your head, tell yourself to stop. When you do this, you take the power away from the voice inside that discourages you.
- By focusing on the good things you do and all your great qualities, you learn to love and accept yourself — the main ingredients for strong self-esteem! Even if you've got room for improvement (and who doesn't?), realizing that you're valuable and important helps your self-esteem to shine.
Activity
- Happy to Be Us activity from the Girl Empower challenge
- Hand out flower sheets (6"x6") & ask girls to write one great thing about who they are on each petal. Explain that it can be about their skills, backgrounds, talents, beliefs, families, strengths, and other social and personal traits. Note: sheets were printed on letter sized paper, then flower portion cut down to 6"x6". Remaining portions of the sheet were used in our scrapbooks.
Game
Activity
- The Book of Smiles activity from the Girl Empower challenge
- Give each girl their own photo (taken at the last meeting). Note: we printed 2 photos per 4"x6" sheet, so each photo was 4"x3" (to better fit in their 6"x6" scrapbooks).
- Ask girls to glue their photos onto a piece of colourful paper (6"x6") and write one positive thing about themselves underneath their photos. It can be about their personality, talents, background, strengths, and other social or personal traits.
- Ask girls to gather in a circle and give their piece of paper with the photo to the girl on their right.
- Ask the girl on the right to write down one positive element of the girl in the photo.
- Repeat step 3 and 4 as many times as the group would like, adding to the positive and affirming words/statements.
Craft - Scrapbooking
- Hand out pre-made Craft: Accordion Scrapbooks.
- Have girls glue in their Book of Smiles page, Happy to Be Us page and Fun Alone page. Now they can work on making pages for the photos they brought from home. (note: we asked girls to bring in family, pet and activity photos from home).
- Introduce “Best of Brownies” – make a page showing what things you like best about Brownies.
Closing
- Sing Now Run Along Home – song tune at http://www.dltk-bible.com/now_run_along_home.htm
- Sing the Brownie Closing Song
·Hand out flower sheets & Ask girls to write one great thing about who they are on each petal. Explain that it can be about their skills, backgrounds, talents, beliefs, families, strengths, and other social and personal traits.