Discussion Questions:
- What do you think self-esteem is?
How we think and feel about ourselves
Self-esteem can be high or low depending on how we feel about ourselves - How does Shaun use his self-esteem to persist in the challenge of riding his bike?
He uses positive self-talk, telling himself not to give up, keeps trying despite what others say - When the other kids tease Shaun, how do you think he feels? (Shaun feels, bad, hurt, etc.)
How does he use his self-esteem to help him in this situation?
Shaun ignores the kids laughing at him and keeps trying over and over without giving up - Do you think Nadia has high or low self-esteem?
High, because she doesn’t give up and seeks help for her worries - What does Nadia do in the story to boost her self-esteem?
Nadia talks to a supportive individual about her worries, takes initiative to get help for her friend, challenges herself to get better at skip roping - How can helping others boost our self-esteem?
Helping others makes us feel good about ourselves - How can we use our self-esteem when dealing with challenges?
We can use it to remind ourselves to keep trying and not give up - How do we feel about ourselves when we overcome challenges? (give children an opportunity to share some personal examples)
Note for Facilitators:
Question 1 can be asked before the Read Aloud to provide a framework for the theme of self-esteem and to help direct children’s attention to this concept. If there is time, you may want to return to this question after the story and/or discussion to get a sense of whether or not children’s thinking about self-esteem has changed