B a r b a r a s h e r I l L u s t r a t I o n s b y r a L p h

V
A R I A T I O N
Consider sharing some of your own foibles and how you accepted them
and learned from them.
W
H A T
’
S
B
E I N G
L
E A R N E D
We can’t fix something if we don’t know it’s broken. We can’t be apologetic
or do things a different way if we are vehemently denying that we were in
the wrong.
This game helps teenagers be more comfortable with making errors so
that they can more easily focus on what needs to be done next or at least
the next time. When we turn down the volume of denial, we all can see how
it feels better inside to do the thoughtful thing.
“I’m like that sometimes” helps teenagers (and all of us) focus on and
be okay with the behavior that could use some adjusting.
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Attention Games
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Imagine That!
Even though I often come up with ideas for games while taking a long walk,
I rarely remember to bring paper and pen with me. I used to have to repeat
the ideas to myself several times during the walk to help me remember
them. When other thoughts or a spot of nature’s beauty would capture my
attention, I forgot what my ideas were.
Then I tried a method I had heard about for years to help remember
things. The trick is to take all the information you want to remember and
form it into a visual image. My friend who taught me the trick could
remember as many as fifty things this way. I figured I should be able to use
this method to remember four!
So one day when I wanted to remember four of the games for this
book—one with a deck of cards, one about writing on backs, one about self-
calming techniques, and this visual memory game—I conjured up a pic-
ture of a deck of cards calming itself in a hammock while someone was
touching its back saying, “Imagine that!”
The technique worked so well that even though I forgot to write
the ideas down the minute I got home, I still remembered the image the
next morning (even after a full night’s set of dreams) and wrote the ideas
down.
Try this same technique with your teenager to help her focus on some
things she has to remember.