Children's Responses

Here are some responses from the children after the using the Stories, Music, and Imagery process.

Barrette

The story “Barrette” is about a girl who learns to look into a mirror and see something beautiful about herself. Self-image issues challenge girls. Too often the focus is on what is wrong or what they don’t like.

 

    

Response #1

When I look in my mirror I saw my inner self and it said one day you will be all that you want to be and have all that you want. Just stay in school and learn all you can learn so you can be all you want to be and have all the things you want. And I’ll talk to you later. Bye-bye.

Response #2

I experienced a short, dark, pretty girl. She was so short she was knee high to a duck. But she was pretty like a swan. She had very pretty silky hair and very pretty delicate skin. It was real pretty. Everyone liked her. She was so nice and kind to everyone.
The story means to me that you can only see what’s inside if you try. You should always be careful of your decisions and how they affect you personally and mentally. This also means you are beautiful inside no matter what anyone says.

Response #3

When I looked in the mirror I saw a girl who looked just like me and I saw a beautiful person and I felt relaxed and I had high self-esteem about myself. I felt like I was the most beautiful girl in the world.

 

Fuse

Fuse is a story about a boy who meets his “Body Director” and discovers ways to stay healthy. Here are some responses of the children when they imaged meeting their own “Body Director.”

 

    

Response #1

My body director was sitting at a desk and there was a light shining on him. I sat down at his desk and he told me that keeping my body healthy could help me in the future. Then he took me by the hand and we walked to a big stage. Dancers ran on the stage with letters on their costumes. It was a ballet and the letters stood for body parts. The dancers danced gracefully. Then more dancers came out with letters standing for fruit. All of the dancers danced about and then the fruit dancers danced off stage. After a while some more dancers danced out on stage. They were the bad diseases, but the body parts were strong enough to fight the bad diseases because the body was very healthy. After the dance was over, my body director said, “Do you see what happens when you take care of your body?”

Response #2

I was just walking and this thing came at me. It showed me how I would look if I didn’t keep a healthy body. It was terrible. All I had was bones, weaker than a mice. Then it showed me how I looked if I keep a healthy body. I was strong and I had some meat on me. And he said keep up the good work. Then you woke me up.

Response #3

I remember that my heart was beating fast and then a strong person came. He was the body director and took me to space and we talked about the body. We talked about how the body is a wonderful thing to have and it’s a precious gift of life

 

Lessons learned with Linda can be reinforced at home or even at school by following the guides and suggestions in Linda's first book Stories, Music, and Imagery: A Doorway to a Child's Self Esteem.