Things ending

My programme has ended

What happened

You were watching your favourite programme. The episode has finished.

What do you want to happen?

For the grown-up

This one is easy to misread as being about the television, and it usually is not. A child who has been inside a story for twenty minutes has come out of somewhere, and two minutes of talking about what happened does more than another episode would.

Say what they wanted before you say what can happen. A child who is handed a solution first hears it as being told off.
The true thing beats the soothing thing. “The cup is in the wash” is something a child can be disappointed about and then get past.
Wanting the impossible thing is not a mistake. It is what they want, and this resource agrees with them before it says anything else.
It works far better on a calm day than in the middle of one. Going through it when nothing is happening is what makes the words available the next time something is.

This is a rehearsal tool, not an assessment, and it does not know your child. You decide whether what it says fits them — if a scenario is not right, close it and pick another.

You were watching your favourite programme. The episode has finished.

What do you want to happen?

Make the story keep going — You wanted the story to carry on.
Watch the next one now — You'd like to find out what happens next.
Talk about the ending — You've got things to say about that ending.
Cry about the ending — A good story ending is worth crying about.

That episode has finished its story. But there's plenty to say about it.

What can we do now?

Say what happened in it — Yes. A story you talk about lasts a bit longer. You could say: “My favourite bit was right at the end.”
Ask about the next one — Good idea. Somebody else knows when the next one is on. You could say: “When can I watch the next episode?”
Draw a bit of it — Okay. You can put your favourite part on paper.

The episode ended. The story is still yours to tell.

For the grown-up: This one is easy to misread as being about the television, and it usually is not. A child who has been inside a story for twenty minutes has come out of somewhere, and two minutes of talking about what happened does more than another episode would.

All 33 situations