Kiss My Knits!

Emily lost another tooth last night, this one on the top right as you look at her. She knew it was loose, but in contrast to last time, she didn’t make a big fuss. She was eating, it came out, she put it in her tooth box, and came back to tell me the tooth fairy was coming tonight before I knew anything had even happened. Okay then!

I had to go out to a Girl Scout council meeting last night, so I wasn’t there when she went to bed. However, Steve asked her if she’d rather put her tooth box in the hall so the tooth fairy wouldn’t have to come into her room. Her highness doesn’t like to be disturbed at night. So that’s what they did. I was pretty tired when I finally came to bed. The tooth fairy came and did put a coin in her box, but when Emily woke up, the tooth was on the bathroom counter. Oops! We decided that probably the tooth fairy had to use the potty and accidentally left it. We figured she’d be back to get it later.

On the Brownie front, I decided it would be better to do the animals badge in the Spring, when there was a chance of, you know, actually SEEING some animals. Instead we’re doing “People are Talking.” Considering my daughter’s issues, this’ll be interesting!

Talk about how to start a conversation

Keep a good personal distance: don’t get right up next to their face, and don’t start from across the room. If you start a conversation, most people are comfortable if you’re about an arm’s length away.

Greet them. Say hello, tell them your name. Ask them theirs.

Eye contact. Look at their face, not at the ground.

Find a subject. Look around. Is there anything around you that might be a good topic of conversation? Is there something you’re both wearing? How about the weather? Something unusual in the room you can remark on?

Give a compliment. Don’t lie and say you love their dress if you think it’s awful, but if you see something nice you can say to someone, say it. People like honest compliments.

Ask a question. People like to talk about themselves. Did they read a good book recently? Did they see a movie? Where did they get their shoes?

Make a comment on something they’ve said and jump in to the conversation. Take turns talking and asking each other questions.

I’ll be writing the bits in italics on the whiteboard so they can look back at them when we break into pairs for practice.

Talk about body language and facial expressions.
I’ll bring some pictures of people and we can see if we can tell how they’re feeling from the way they look. I’ll make up some slips of paper and the girls can draw one out and act it out, and we’ll see if we can guess how they feel without them speaking.

Talk about how tone of voice can change the meaning of what you’re saying. Get the girls to try saying the same thing in a few different ways to demonstrate.
“Can you please hand me that?”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s interesting.”
“I don’t like that.”
Anything else they want to throw in there.

What does it mean to be a good listener? What are some things you can do? Make eye contact, don’t interrupt, don’t get distracted and stop paying attention, nod a little if you agree or to show that you understand, and ask questions in breaks in the conversation.

Break into pairs. Get one girl to tell a story or to say something about how her day went that day. I’m betting most of them had Valentine’s parties, that might be a good topic. Have the other one listen. Then switch. Ask them how it felt to be listened to, and how it felt to listen. Was it hard? Was it fun? Most people really enjoy being listened to, it makes them feel important and valued.

UNRELATED

Cookie business!

We have a potential service project we can work on – filling Easter eggs for the Thompson Children’s home. (Rachel, you were mentioned by name and they spoke very highly of you at council meeting last night. Every leader raised her hand when they asked who wanted more info on this service project!) Each child can take a plastic egg or two and put little goodies in it. Erasers, raisins, etc. They’re asking for no candy or chocolate because it’ll melt. We can run this past the children and see if they want to participate. I expect they will. We’ll need these back next time. I’ll make a little handout of what can go inside.

Tell them that next time, we’ll have a guest speaker who will help us with the “Write Away” badge.

And break! Rush home, Let her chill and decompress for a few, put her to bed, rush to Knit night, then back home for LOST. Another jam-packed evening at Chez Tvini!