Tommy Turtle's Brainpower: Promoting Children's Social and Emotional Competence

How can we teach children to control their anger and calm themselves in situations of frustration? How can children learn to resolve disputes in a constructive way? Tommy Turtle’s Brainpower method is a captivating 2-chapter story that promotes children’s social and emotional competence. It begins when Tommy, a playful and endearing turtle is frustrated and “Hot Anger takes control of his head”. Once Tommy blows up, his friends are upset and turn away from him. Ms. Giraffe, the pre-school teacher, steps in to calm the situation and to set limits. She kindly offers to teach Tommy a 3-step way for working out problems. As Tommy follows Ms. Giraffe’ clear and simple instructions, he applies the three universal steps that help children (and adults) to improve self-regulation and problem solving skills: stop, cool down, and finally think and act responsibly. In the second chapter, Tommy learns how to make up with friends following the loss of self-control. He bravely faces the fear of being shamed, asks for forgiveness and makes amends. This book includes playing cards that facilitate conversation with children about forgiveness and making-up. There are also guidelines designed for parents, teachers, and therapists for applying "the Brainpower Method". The guidelines were derived from Hitkashrut: a research-based early-intervention program that successfully reduced young children’s’ behavior problems and enhanced their self-regulation and social skills. The book concludes with a poster that presents the 3-step way.