Throughout our days in Studio Purple, we often hear conversations bubbling up about what makes the children who they are.    

“My sister always wants to be the same and I don’t.”

“I live in Concord.”

“I love staying the way it is.” 

“I have an ‘L’ in my name like my brother.”

Self-awareness and empathy are very intimately connected. To better understand others, we must first better understand ourselves.  Becoming more aware of our own tendencies and patterns can help us better navigate our relationships and how we connect with others.  By becoming more self-aware, we begin to recognize ways that we are similar AND different from others in our thinking and feeling. 

This week, we read How to be a Lion by Ed Vere.  It’s a story about the importance of being true to yourself.  “Let nobody say just ONE way is true. There are so many ways that you can be you.  If there MUST be a must, then this we must try. Why don’t you, be YOU…And I, will be I.”

Following our read aloud, we asked each child to draw a picture in response to the question,

What makes you, you?