Newsletter #5 Engagement + Mindfulness – Feel Good Menu 

Element of Wellbeing – Engagement + Mindfulness

Wellness Activity – Feel Good Menu 

When pressures build, as these uncertain times may contribute to, teenagers have a tendency to catastrophise, meaning they focus on the worst possible thing that could happen. After the dust has settled, the reality is that the outcome was somewhere in between worst and best case scenarios. 

This activity, called Feel Good Menu, is designed to have coping strategies at their finger tips to use when they begin to feel themselves catastrophising. Ask your teenager what are at least five of the best simple feel good activities they enjoy doing (Saturday night ones not to be included). Make a list of them and ask them to put it up on their bedroom wall and in their phones. Then when the pressure appears, they are to choose one of these activities to go and do for 20 minutes to self-calm themselves.

As a parent, this works well for you also. Compiling a Feel Good Menu with your partner and putting it on the fridge, is an effective way to diffuse possible issues. When one of you is out of sorts, the previously agreed to strategy is for the calm person to choose one to do together for 20 minutes. 

Your child’s wellbeing is important, to find out how you can help build your child’s wellbeing check out our program designed for kids of all ages here: https://learningcurveathome.com/wellbeing-program-2/ 

All the best, Mick

Mick Walsh

Author, Educator and Speaker