Sephie Says It Best: Why FYBS Belongs in Schools
Have you heard enough from the FYBS grown-ups? We thought so—so who better to explain why FYBS matters than our resident kid expert and star of The FYBS Playroom: Big Feelings, Little Friends, Sephie (Persephone)!
Sephie recently wrote a persuasive letter to her school principal about why she thinks FYBS belongs in schools. Read Sephie’s letter below—we couldn’t have said it better ourselves!
Dear Principal,
Have you ever seen kids that look upset or mad and don’t know how to deal with it? Have you tried things to help them that don’t work? Well, I have a solution for you. I think teachers should use Feel Your Best Self in schools because it would help kids to deal with their hard feelings in a fun way.
Feel Your Best Self gives kids strategies that can help to make our school a better place. FYBS is a fun program that uses three puppet friends-Mena, Nico, and CJ to introduce new strategies to help kids deal with their hard feelings. The puppets teach in different ways, from books to videos to songs and also strategy cards to remind kids what to do.
There are lots of kids in school who could use FYBS strategies to calm their bodies and emotions. Every day, kids get frustrated because they don’t agree with others’ ideas, get overwhelmed by the work they need to do, or are sad because they are having a bad day. One of the problems in the upper grades is that many teachers don’t allow kids to have fidgets or squishies to help them feel better. Teachers do let kids go to the cozy corner or take a walk to calm down, but these things take away from learning time. The good thing about the FYBS strategies is that you don’t need objects to calm yourself and others down and they don’t take away from learning time.
In conclusion, I think that the FYBS strategies should be used at our school. FYBS is not a toy, it’s a tool. It won’t take away from learning time or use objects but can help kids in better ways. You can find out more about FYBS at the FYBS website (https://www.feelyourbestself.org/) or YouTube page (and you might see the FYBS Playroom there starring me!).
From,
Persephone (grade 4)