Hi, Parents:
Well, we are getting down to the wire, and I can feel it. . Tonight, we did an activity that made me realize how far some of your kids have come. It showed up in how they thought and what they had to say.
We began the group with 15 teens, and Sophie came tonight. She was a hit, as usual. And, in fact, I showed them a 3 minutes video that I had made with her starring." They are encouraging me to put on YouTube. We will see...
Anyway, they were engaged in their typical magazine reading at first, which gave way to conversations and more conversations. Really, that was the theme of the entire evening. Five of them had LUNCH Points and participated in a somewhat unusual LUNCH Points raffle. I started off by picking a number and then having them add the first two letters of their first name together to form a number. So, if somebody’s name was “Abe,” the A and the B would form the number 3. One student won that way. Then, for the second raffle, I had them listen to one of my favorite musicians and guess the person’s first name. Whoever came closest also won. Doing things in this manner forces them to attend and maintain cognitive flexibility. Since most, but not all win, it gives them yet another chance to handle disappointment without losing control or making it too much of a "big deal."
After the raffle, we headed out for Uncle Chen’s for Chinese food. Many of your kids tried new items. Some wanted Hero Tickets, and some got Hero Tickets. It was particularly impressive to watch EF try chicken with lemon on it. Her conclusion was that it was the lemon part that was unhealthy, but the fried chicken part was okay.
Other group members showed thoughtfulness and consideration as they passed things to one another. We did our usual working on manners, as well as just general social behavior, and not letting the volume get too loud during mealtime. Having said that, it really never got too loud; they were just enjoying themselves. None of them were raucous, but rather they were just teenagers having a good time. A group of women (it always seems to be a group of women.) were seated outside of our room. They asked what the special event was, and looked a little puzzled when I said it was just a group of teenagers getting together for dinner.
The kids ate and ate, but they didn’t stuff themselves. They had wor won ton soup, spare ribs, shrimp in lobster sauce, beef with noodles, chicken with noodles, tangerine chicken, egg rolls, and, of course, fortune cookies. Believe it or not, despite the number of dishes on the table, there wasn’t much left when they finished.
During this time I asked your kids what they liked or didn't like about the group. The majority of teens who had have been attending group for a longer period of time expressed themselves in a thoughtful manner and seemed more mature in how they responded.
We finished up and headed back with a couple of kids picking up their backpacks on the way. We also voted on what we wanted to do for our final outing, which will occur the third week in May. After choosing between the mall, which a few wanted, a picnic, (Only CP wanted that one, but he really wanted it.), laser tag, and miniature golf plus arcade, it came down to between laser tag and miniature golf/arcade. We did a runoff vote, and, by a verdict of three to two, they decided on going to miniature golf/arcade. So, we have a new activity to plan which will be at Castle Park.
So, that’s about it for now. We are in a winding down process. And thanks so much for having such great kids. See you next time.
