Fri, Oct 3: Changes for the Good

What a great fall afternoon we had for GOTR. All of our twelve lovely girls attended our lesson where we concentrated on making changes. We enjoyed a spirited conversation,; the girls offered lots of examples of behaviors that weren't so good...things that could be changed and improved. Are you interested in what they listed? Well, here are few:

• I don't try my hardest on my homework
• I don't clean my room
• I am mean to my sister (or my brother)
• I have a bad attitude sometimes
• I am forgetful
• I am impatient with others
• I don't like waiting
• I talk too much (in the hall, in class, at home)
• I watch too much TV
• I ignore my dog
• I don't go to sleep on time and/or I don't get up on time
• I don't clean up after myself

How did we remember all of these examples? The girls recorded their negative behaviors on index cards. As we ran our laps they tossed them, one by one, into the "Munch Monster," a specially made box with the ugliest face. (After the "Munch Monster" ate up all the bad habits, we retrieved them to share them with you!)

We talked quite a bit about how to make changes in their lives and emphasized small, incremental adjustments. The girls began to brainstorm how they could adjust their behavior (listed above) to be more positive behaviors. In fact, they documented these ideas on a sheet a paper, which they should have brought home to you.

Our running was wonderful. Every girl seems to enjoy the challenge of each lap. We wished we had the camera to capture their expressions, but we unfortunately left it at home. :( We also talked about the incremental changes that our lap running brings. We reminded the girls that they started running just a few laps and were now up to completing 6 laps. We explaned that these incremental changes were helping them to prepare for the Nov 22 GOTR 5k race.

Speaking of races, parents, later in October is the Darcars Young Run 2008. This is a great "warm up" event where your daughters can run a mile in a race atmoshere. And if you are up to it, Darcars will allow you to run with your daughter! Fun runs are great way for the girls to get some running confidence; everyone is rewarded with some type of finisher's medal or ribbon. Often, there are fun runs (of one mile or less) integrated into larger community 5k and 10k races.

Next Tues: We had planned to cover healthy habits and nutrition at our next session; but we think we should instead do our lesson that addresses being a good listener. Our group of girls is full of energy, and sometimes that energy (talking) causes disruption during our discussion time. We are postive that once we help the girls understand the importance of listening we'll have even more effective disucssions in the future!

One last note....Don't forget to send your daughter with a water bottle. As our running distance and time increase, it will be even more important to have plenty of water on hand.