Teach Children About Give and Take in Friendship

Use P. J. the Spoiled Bunny Book in Teaching about Relationships

Mar 21, 2009

P. J. learns one of life's hardest lessons - that you don't always get what you want. He also found he could make better choices and have more fun with his friends.

Social skills of empathy, assertiveness and personal growth are front and center in this book by Marilyn Sadler. These relationship lessons are often the hardest for children to learn. P.J. the Spoiled Bunny helps children see how one's actions affects others' attitudes and responses.

Early in the story P.J. didn't have much to be proud of. He was selfish and stubborn, always insisting on doing something different than what his friends wanted to do. He demanded his own way in any situation.

Students can write a list of bad habits on one side of large construction paper folded in hamburger style. On the other side, explain a better choice and how it would make life more pleasant for all concerned.

Helping Students Understand Point of View

This book provides a rich opportunity to see different points of view. One way to improve social skills is to develop empathy with other people's point of view. Discuss how different animals felt, and how how it may have influenced their choices. Also talk about is there one choice or are there several? Make posters or comic-style page to illustrate point of view.

Follow-up writing assignments could include a journal entry about how it would feel to be P.J.'s friend as he was at the first of the story, bad habits and all. Include a play time with him, his actions, and your reactions and feelings. Then another journal entry could be from P.J.'s point of view, showing how he felt trapped in his bad habits.

Teaching Children the Value of Being Assertive

Guide children to identify the page where P.J.'s friends decide they would stand up to him. Explain the difference between being assertive and being aggressive.

Play "If, Then Game" with the whole class, then in table groups of four or so. Start sentences with the word "If" and let child respond by finishing the sentence using the word "then." For example, first person says, "If my friend just would not let me have a turn.. . " The next person gives a possible assertive behavior choice like, "then I would remind him I could go home and get all the turns I want."

Writing could involve writing a playground scenario where someone chose to be assertive with a demanding friend. They can use the "If, then" sentence form in their writing also. There is much benefit in children learning strategies for healthy relationships.

Kids will become quite creative in designing assertive responses. This provides some emotional protection against bullying and other forms of unfair behavior they will confront in their lives.

Use P.J. the Spoiled Bunny as a starting point for fostering social skills in children. Learn about bad habits and their consequences, point of view as it affects behaviors, and the value of being assertive. It will pay off for the rest of their lives.

The copyright of the article Teach Children About Give and Take in Friendship in Primary School is owned by Hildra Tague. Permission to republish Teach Children About Give and Take in Friendship in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.