Brain Talk

Did you ever stop and think that maybe you really are smarter than you believe? Well this is a new stratagy we are working on with Gunnar. You tell your brain what you expect from it and it will respond---hopefully!! We had a little talk with Gunnar about our parent teacher conference and explained to her that there are a few areas she needs to work on. Her response was "I'm just dumb" and that's that. Yeah, I'm not buying it. We ALL know that she is very bright--it's just getting her to think so that is the trick. Gunnar is a praise girl--meaning: give me praise I give you results. She needs serious motivators--basically REWARDS! I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I mean don't most people love praise? I know it makes me feel better. So the other night we were reading and she stopped and said "why do you think I'm not smart" and I said "is that truely how you feel?" She goes on to say well if I'm not doing good in school that means I'm not smart---I told her that when you tell your brain you aren't smart then it doesn't want to work for you anymore, so it just gives up. She looked at me funny. Then I said so my advice is that you start telling your brain how smart you are so your brain will work really hard to make you, and your teachers and mommy and daddy really happy. This big, snaggle tooth smile came across her face and she said "mom, that is a great idea". How did I get sooo darn smart. Anyway, we wrote on her chalkboard wall in really big letters "I AM SMART AND TOMORROW I WILL DO MY BEST" this is part of our NEW nightly routine. Gunnar must say this before going to sleep. The first night she hid under the covers and laughed the whole time--as I giggled and encouraged her to say it louder. Last night she just hid a little and smiled a lot. The best part to this whole story is today I went to have lunch with her and she said "mom guess what?" and I said Yeah, she said " I have the best news, -- you know those words on my chalkboard--and I said "the smart ones?" and she said "yup, I think they are working" I said "why" she said "my teacher said my butterfly story is the best story in the class!!". She was beaming with excitement. I was thrilled to see her so fired up over school work. Shortly after that I ran into Gunnars teacher and she said I don't know what you guys have done since Tuesday,but Gunnar is on the ball. She has been so focused and has been working really hard. AHHHH--all you need is the power of suggestion--talk to the brain and the brain will respond:)