Hello my Pandemic Pals, every one! This is Murrie here (I’m the mostly white dog in the picture above). Today I’m going to talk about a topic that has been happening to me during this pandemic period. I’ll bet it has happened to some of you, too. I want to talk about brothers and sisters, and specifically, how sometimes they can be annoying. The picture above is of me with one of my sisters, Josie Patches. As you can see there is a yellow thing between us. That’s a toy. It used to have some squeaky things in it. We have played with it a lot, and now the squeaks are all gone and we sometimes use it as a tug toy together. I put this picture here because we were getting along pretty well when this picture was taken. We usually do, but sometimes I feel annoyed with her. I’m going to talk about my thoughts in two videos. The first one is below. Click on the link that says my name and Video 1:
Click here: Murrie Video 1
So there you have the problem. It’s not that we don’t care for each other and love each other. It’s just that it’s hard sometimes. I know that most brothers and sisters have arguments or squabbles sometimes. I think the pandemic makes it even harder, though, because we are spending a whole lot of time together at home, and we are used to going to school or visiting our friends and stuff like that.
In the next video, I talk about some things you can do when you get annoyed with your brothers and sisters. I talk about having a quiet space of your own. Here’s a picture of my quiet place:
For some of you it might be a bedroom, and for others, it might be a corner of a room. I hope you can find a place where you can get away a little bit (but safely!) when you need that. Maybe your parents or the grown-ups who take care of you can help with that.
Now it’s time to listen to my second video. Click on the link below that has my name in it that says Video 2:
Click Here: Murrie Video 2
Did you see that green round toy in the video you just watched? That is one of my favorites. I don’t like to share that one because it is so special. I am learning to share other things better, and for now, my human mom says that we will keep the green toy in a special place just for me. I will only play with it when my sisters are outside or somewhere else. I don’t want to tease them, but this one is just for me. I will work hard to respect the fact that they each have one toy that is special and just for them, too.
There are many things to work out. I know that our relationships with brothers and sisters can be complicated sometimes. I try hard to remember that I love them, even if I do feel annoyed with them once in a while. That’s what families are all about – we might get on each other’s nerves once in a while, but at the heart of it, it’s about loving each other. That means we work hard to solve the problems we have!
That’s it for today! There are more animals lined up to share thoughts with you in the weeks to come!
Your pal,
Murrie
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*Animal Assisted Play Therapy is a trademark of the Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center, Inc. and its International Institute for Animal Assisted Play Therapy®.
Animals Speak! is a project of the International Institute of Animal Assisted Play Therapy® featuring therapists and their animals from all over the world who have been trained in AAPT. The purpose is to provide child-friendly information about topics related to the pandemic, along with some fun or interesting ideas to help kids of all ages cope with what is going on.
To see prior issues, click right here.
To contact Kirrie, Josie Patches, or their human (Dr. Risë VanFleet), send an email to info@iiaapt.org.
To learn more about Animal Assisted Play Therapy® click this link.
Author Risë VanFleet, PhD, RPT-S, CDBC, co-creator of the field of Animal Assisted Play Therapy with Tracie Faa-Thompson, is shown here with Josie Patches, Murrie, and Kirrie.
All content, photos, and videos are copyrighted © 2020, IIAAPT.org. All rights reserved.
