This season, Girls on the Run Greater Boston will post an overview of each week's lessons for families/guardians to follow along with their participants over the next 8 weeks.
Girls on the Run
Lesson 8: Share Your Emotions
In Lesson 8, the big idea was Sharing Emotions. We learned that once we know what emotions we are feeling, it’s important to courageously share them with others and ask for what we need. We taught the team the “I Feel” tool for sharing our emotions:. “I Feel… Because... I would like…” They practiced saying these phrases in order during the warm-up and then applied them during the workout to situations that may cause them to experience a strong emotion. The GOTR Goal was: Try using an “I feel” statement to share your emotions with someone.
Questions and conversation starters:
1. Why is sharing our emotions important?
2. What are the three key phrases to use when you want to share your emotions? (I feel… because…I would like…)
3. Let’s each think of a time when we could have used this “I Feel” tool. (For example, “I feel proud because you helped your little brother with his homework. I would like you to keep offering your help to others.”) 
Lesson 10: Stop & Take a Breather
The big idea for Lesson 10 was Peer Pressure. We learned about a GOTR tool we can use to activate our Star Power and choose what’s right for us despite peer pressure. This tool, Stop & Take a Breather, helps us Stop, Breathe, Think, and Respond – allowing us to press pause on an intense emotion and think through our choices before responding. In the workout, the team practiced using this tool in their own, real-life conflicts. The GOTR GOAL was: Notice if/when you are being pressured, Stop & Take a Breather and activate your Star Power.
Questions and conversation starters:
1. Tell me about the Stop and Take a Breather tool. How does each part work?
2. What scenarios did you use to practice Stop and Take a Breather during the workout?
Heart & Sole (2x a week)
Lesson 7
In Lesson 7, the Big Idea was that healthy self-confidence makes us stronger. This lesson offers an excellent opportunity for parents/caregivers to discuss the idea that self-confidence develops from a variety of sources, both internal and external, and most importantly, can be strengthened. The girls learned to connect ideas about self-confidence to their Girl Wheel and acquired new strategies for strengthening their self-confidence. The Take Home Challenge for this lesson was to practice some of the new self-confidence strategies at home.
Questions and Conversation Starters:
1. What are some things you learned about healthy self-confidence?
2. What are some good decisions you’ve made because of your healthy self-confidence? (Share one of two of your own with her.)
3. What are some strategies you learned that we can try at home to strengthen our self-confidence?
Lesson 8
The Big Idea in Lesson 8 was: challenges build strength and strength builds confidence. In this lesson, the girls stretched themselves personally by asking and answering questions of themselves. They also stretched themselves physically by completing a challenging group-paced run in which they had to slow down or pick up their pace to help the team. Lastly, the girls reflected on a variety of images that show strength and challenge and decided which ones motivate them personally. The Take Home Challenge for this lesson was to look for examples of challenge and strength in their lives and to look for opportunities to challenge themselves in new and positive ways.
Questions and Conversation Starters:
1. Tell me about the group run. What made it challenging? What made it rewarding?
2. Why do you think it’s important to practice skills that keep our self-confidence high? (Share some reasons you think it’s important.)
Heart & Sole (1x a week)
Lesson 4
The Big Idea for Lesson 4 was pressing pause helps us understand and manage our emotions. Today, we focused on how girls experience emotions and that people might have different responses to similar situations. We also focused on how to deal with emotions in healthy ways. Girls learned how to handle potentially challenging situations by “pressing pause” and thinking through their reactions. Pressing pause, or stopping before responding, allows people to take stock of how they are feeling, better understand their circumstances, ask for advice if they need it, etc. In the Activity, girls learned how to handle potentially challenging situations by “pressing pause” and thinking through their reactions. During the Let’s Talk, girls identified some situations where pressing pause was or could have been helpful in their lives.
Their Take Home Challenge for this lesson was to practice pressing pause, especially in situations they usually don’t, and to see what happens.
Questions & Conversation Starters:
1. Tell me what it means to press pause.
2. What are times in your life when you most need to press pause? (Share examples from your own life.)
3. Why do you think two people might have a different emotional response to the same situation? (Share your thoughts and/or an example from your life.)
4. KEEP MOVING: Ask your girl to teach you how to do interval training (and get moving together)!
Pictures in order of appearance:
- Underwood - Newton
- West Intermediate - Wilmington
- Bates - Salem