Instructions:

1. If the child has problems, convert them into skills the child can learn. Remember that a skill is not the ability to NOT DO the wrong thing but the ability to do the right thing instead.

2. Agree with the child which skill he will learn. Let the child participate in the discussion about what skill he should learn. Children are often well aware of what skill they should improve.

3 Let the child give the skill a cool name. If necessary, help the child in finding a name for his skill or have him ask his peers to help him in coming up with a suitable name for the skill.

4. Let the child choose himself a power animal or another creature that will help him to learn the skill. Ask him to draw or get hold of a picture of it and let him tell you how it will help him in learning the skill.

5. Explain to the child, and ask others to explain too, what benefits there are for the child and to other people of him mastering the skill. When he has heard what other people have to say about the benefits of the skill, let him add what he himself considers to be the main benefits of the skill.

6. Help the child recruit a number of supporters, adults as well as other children. In school you may want to divide the children into small groups consisting of four pupils each, in which the children help each other to learn their skills. When persons accept to become the child supporters they can show it by writing their name onto the child's poster or into his skills book. Supporting the child means that the supporter observes the child's progress show admiration for success and write down notes about observed proficiency onto the child's poster or into his Skills Book.

7. Tell the child what makes you and have the other supporters also tell him what makes them, confident that he will learn the skill. When the child has heard what others said, let him tell you why he himself is confident that he will learn the skill.

8. Plan in advance with the child how you will celebrate when he has learned the skill. When you are using Kids' Skills with a group of children, it is advisable to arrange a common celebration for all children where parents will be invited to take part.

9. In order for the child to practice his skill you will have to find a way in which he can demonstrate to you how skilful he already is. Talk with the child about how a person who masters that skill well behaves in various situations and let him show you in a role-play what that means in practice. This way you and the child will develop ideas of how he will be able to rehearse his skill in practice.

10 Help the child go public about his skill. You can ask him to tell everyone about the skill he is learning but the best way to go public it is to let the child put up on the wall a poster which, in addition to his name, tells who his supporters are and what skill he is presently learning. The poster can also have a picture of his power animal as well as a list of the central benefits of the skill. In addition to the poster, the child should also have a Skills Book, a notebook about his project that he can show to his supporters and into which his supporters can write notes about their observations of his skilfulness.

11. Have the child practice his skills, preferably on a daily basis, by giving him opportunities to show other people how good he already is at doing his skill while others respond by showing him their appreciation. For this purpose you may need to create together with the child a role-play of some sort with which he can demonstrate his skilfulness. Another alternative is that you agree with the child that his supporters will pay attention to his behaviour and take notes of the times he spontaneously shows mastery of his skill.

12. It is easier to learn skills than to try to get rid of problems, but it is still not all that easy. Therefore talk with the child about what to do should it happen that he sometimes 'forgets' the skill he is learning and behaves in the very way he is learning not to behave. The best way to prepare for these situations is to let the child tell his supporters how he wants them to remind him or help him in such a case.

13. When it is time to celebrate, the child is publicly awarded for having learned the skill or having made substantial progress in learning it. At this stage you ask the child how other people have helped him to learn the skill and let the child tell you in what way each of his supporters has been helpful. Help the child find a way to deliver his thanks also to those supporters who are not present at the celebration.

14. Encourage the child to teach the skill to another child who also needs to learn the skill.

15. Discuss with the child what skill he will learn next.