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Children sit next to each other on a classroom carpet. One child has her hand extended, thumb raised.

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Paulette Maggiacomo

Paulette Maggiacomo

February 1, 2022

Ahhhhh…….February is upon us and brings Valentine’s Day, the day when we reach out to those we love and see the best in others. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this continued every day? Using The Power of Love and The Skill of Positive Intent as offered in Conscious Discipline®, we can indeed make the world a better place.


Dr. Becky Bailey states that The Power of Love allows us to manage our triggers and remain calm enough to see the best in others. Believe it or not, we do not possess the super power of reading someone’s mind and knowing why they did what they did.


Let’s take a look at this picture in the lower left of the screen. What is Nancy’s intent?

  • To get the toy that Camden has

  • To hurt Camden because she is mean

  • To express her anger 

  • To push my last button

We don’t know what her intent was. What if we flipped it and looked at it differently?


"Nancy, you wanted the toy so you bit Camden.

You didn’t know what else to do.

You may not bite, biting hurts.

When you want a toy, look at Camden and say, May I have the toy?

Let’s try it now."


You have shown up with love and lifted both yourself and Nancy up to the higher centers of our brain, taught a new skill, and life moves forward. We cannot change the behavior, we can only see it differently. 


Let’s practice seeing children’s behavior as a cry for help. Remember, when we see the best in others we bring out the best in ourselves. Your children see everything you do in the classroom. Imagine what they are thinking when you model this type of behavior – they can answer to two questions that enables them to learn:

  1. Am I Safe?

  2. Am I Loved?

They see that you are looking at them with positive intent, seeing that they are missing a skill, and are willing to teach it to them.


I wonder what will happen when you see the photo in the lower right...will you look at it with positive intent? I hope so!


Until next time, know that I am wishing you well,


Paulette!

An illustration of a young girl biting the arm of a young boy.
A photo of two children. They are making faces and sticking their tongues out at each other.
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