Little Jack Horner, stuck in the corner

Acceptance doesn't mean that anything goes. Rob a bank, tell the judge you are more than your acts and you are still going to jail. A school bully acts badly and you don't like it and the bully runs for class president, you can vote for someone else.

As an educational experiment, ask your child to compare this UOA Little Jack Horner rhyme with the self-acceptance and original conditional-worth versions. A child's answer(s) can start a useful dialogue.

Practical Tips

Helping children build self-acceptance skills can help turn classrooms into centres for teaching and learning what Socrates called the ultimate virtue: self-knowledge.

Here are some REBT tips to help children build these acceptance skills:

• Practice behavior specific feedback: "You did that well/badly" rather than person specific, "You are naughty, lazy."' This teaches USA.
• Encourage children to try new things and take prudent risks.
• Practice your own USA (model how accepting you are of yourself). For example, say aloud: (1) "I didn't do that well but I'm still OK." (2) "I made a mistake, but that doesn't make me dumb." (3) "I have made mistakes but I'm not one."
• Teach your children that needless anger is made by irrational habits of thinking i.e. teachers or parents don't make you mad by correcting you. That's something you bring on yourself.

Teachers at Stuart High School in Whyalla South Australia teach REBT principles through Rational Emotive Behaviour Education, a whole school approach developed by the author. This year the Albert Ellis Professional Learning Centre was established at Stuart High School to promote REBT teaching and learning in schools.