JoJo’s Place

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Feelings

After an earthquake, you can feel all sorts of different things. You may feel sad, worried and even a little scared. But sometimes, good things happen too after an earthquake. Everyone pitches in to make things better, and you get lots of hugs from your whānau.

Click on the feelings below that are the ones you are going through

• Sad
• Miserable
• Heartbroken
• Happy
• Frightened
• Smiling
• Lucky
• Pleased
• Pain
• Cheerful
• Angry
• Annoyed
• Excited
• Calm
• Relaxed
• Upset
• Scared
• Terrified
• Nervous
• Worried

It is important to remember that ‘bad’ feelings like being sad and down are OK and normal. You don’t have to be afraid of these feelings. We all need to go through the ‘bad’ feelings to understand what the ‘good’ feelings are. We just need to be careful that we don’t let these ‘bad’ feelings take over. If you want to talk to someone about how you are feeling at the moment, see the help section.

 

Reactions

So you might be feeling a bit weird. And you also might be acting differently to normal. Look at the list below. Some of the things might be what you are going through.

• Hard to sleep
• Moody
• Headaches
• Tired
• Exhausted
• Not wanting to go to school
• Can’t keep my mind on things
• Crying a lot
• Tummy hurts
• Don’t want to eat

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Being an explorer

The earthquake was scary and probably hard to get through. Other scary and hard things will happen in your life as you get older. One way that you can get through these hard times is to become an explorer to find the best answer to the problem.

Are you ready to be an explorer? Then you need to put your thinking caps on!

There are 6 simple steps to being an explorer and solving your problem.

1. What is the problem?
2. What are all the different ways you can solve this problem, no matter how silly they are?
3. What are all the good and bad things about each answer you have come up with?
4. What are the best answers to your problem? List them from best to worst.
5. Try out the best answer!
6. So how did it go? Anything you could do differently next time? If you’re not happy with how things turned out, go back to step 4.

Easy, only 6 steps and you are an explorer!

Let’s have a go at one together.

Start here ↓

↑ Back to Being an Explorer×

Step 1. The Problem

A kid in your class has stolen your lunch box and you need your lunch as you are starving.

 

Step 2. What are all the different answers?

• Tell the teacher
• Steal a lunch box from some other kid
• Talk to the kid about it
• See if you can share a friend’s lunch
• Do nothing
• Start a fight with the kid
• Tell a friend about it and see what they think
• Offer to share your lunch with the kid who stole it

↓ Go to Step 3

↑ Back to Steps 1 & 2×

Step 3. What are all the good and bad things about each answer you have come up with?

Answer	Good	Bad
Tell the teacher	The teacher will probably be able to get the lunch box back and get the kid in trouble	Look like you are telling on another kid
Steal the lunch box from some other kid	Get to eat lunch	Might get in trouble or start a fight with the kid
Talk to the kid about it	Standing up for yourself	The kid might just say no
See if you can share a friend’s lunch	Able to eat some food	Not standing up for yourself and the kid gets away with it
Do nothing	Hungry	Not standing up for yourself and the kid gets away with it
Start a fight with the kid	Shows the kid that you are tough	Get in trouble, people get hurt, and you might not get your lunch back
Tell a friend about it and see what they think	They may have some good ideas	Doesn’t get your lunch back straight away
Offer to share your lunch with the kid who stole it	Get some of your lunch back	Not getting all of your lunch back and the kid kind of gets away with it

↓ Go to Step 4

↑ Back to Step 3×

Step 4. Best to Worst Answers:

1. Talk to the kid about it
2. Tell a friend about it and see what they think
3. Offer to share your lunch with the kid who stole it
4. See if you can share a friend’s lunch
5. Tell the teacher
6. Do nothing
7. Steal the lunch box back
8. Start a fight

REMEMBER: This is just one way. What order would you put them in?

 

Step 5. Try out the best answer!

Go up to the kid and try to talk to them about your lunch. Ask them why they took it and tell them that you need it back.

 

Step 6. So what happened?

It seems like the kid didn’t know that it was your lunch box and thought it was theirs. They do look the same. They said sorry and gave you your lunch box back with all of the food inside.

 

Everyone has problems, especially after an earthquake. Can you try solving some of these problems using these steps?

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Reaching out

We talk to people all the time. When we are sad, angry, scared, happy or excited, we tell people how we feel. We also tell them what is going on in our lives. Talking to someone about how you are feeling can be a good way to sort out problems. It’s also just a way to get things off your chest.

When was the last time you sat down and talked to someone about the earthquake? Who did you talk to? What was it like?

Sometimes it can be hard to find someone to talk to when you are upset, scared or confused. But that doesn’t mean you are all alone. You always have you!

You might not know it but you’ve got lots of ways to help you get through tough times and feel better.

Here is a list of some things that you can do by yourself when life gets too much.

• read a book
• watch a favourite movie
• play a game: basketball, kick a ball, play hand ball against a wall
• draw, paint or build
• write a story or poem about how you are feeling
• imagine you are in your favourite place (e.g., at the beach, at your friend’s sleepover)
• have a bath
• check your favourite internet sites

What other things can you think of??????

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Good things about me

Sometimes when things go bad or we feel really down we forget about all the good things about us.

Below there’s a list of good things about people. Put a star beside all the good things about you.

• I can build things
• I like to listen to music
• I can play a musical instrument or sing
• I am a good friend
• I make people laugh
• I love playing sport
• I’ve got heaps of energy
• I can work lots of things out
• I work hard at school
• I get along with the other kids in class
• I have an adult who cares about me
• I can act or dance
• I like to help people
• I am good at art or drawing
• I like school
• I get over hard things easily
• I like learning about new things
• I like meeting new people
• I like to laugh

Finding it hard to do? Think about what your friends would say about you. Would they say that you are a good friend? Would they say that you make them laugh? What else should be on the list?

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How my life has changed

Lots of things may have changed in your life after the earthquake.

Some things that are different now might be …

• My house
• My classroom
• My marae
• My church or temple
• The way I get to school or other places
• Mum or Dad or other people that I care about are not around now
• Mum or Dad don’t go to work anymore
• Mum, Dad or other people I care about get upset more than before
• The way lots of places around Christchurch look now

OR ????

What other things have changed in your life since the earthquake?

It is totally normal to feel sad, lonely, angry, helpless, worried, guilty or scared about all the things that are different now. And it’s important to remember that nothing that you have done has made these changes happen.

Thinking through the changes helps us to get used to them. It might still feel really tough at the moment, though. Sometimes it can help to talk to your mum, dad or someone else that you are close to about how your life has changed. It can also help to talk about how you feel about the things that have changed.

↓ Finding this hard?

↑ Back to How my life has changed×

Finding this hard?

If you find it hard to talk about these things, try writing a letter or even a story. One really helpful way to do this is to break up what you are writing into three bits.

Some things that are different now might be:

1. The first bit could be about all the good and bad things and the people in your life before the earthquake.
2. In the second bit, you could write about all the good and bad things and the people in your life after the earthquake
3. Then you could write about what has changed and what has stayed the same.

The story can be as short or as long as you want it to be, and you should write about the things that YOU want to write about.

↓ Ella’s story

↑ Back to Finding this hard?×

Ella (aged 8) wrote this story:

Before the earthquake, I lived with my mum, dad, my little brother Max and our dog Rosie in Dallington in Christchurch. I am in Year 3 at Burwood Primary School. My favourite thing to do is to hang out with my friend Aroha.

I was really sad after the earthquake because my dog Rosie got squashed by stuff during the earthquake and died. I really miss giving her cuddles and her licking me. We are staying with my aunty, uncle and my cousin Sam because our house got damaged. I really like them but I wish we could go back to our place. I can still hang out with Aroha though, because she just lives up the road and my school has just opened up so I can see all my other friends. Aroha says she knows someone who can give us a puppy.

So, I really, really miss Rosie and I wish we could go back to our place, but as least I can still see Aroha and my other friends, and Mum, Dad and Max are OK. And maybe, just maybe, I might be able to get a puppy.

↓ Things I have learned

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Things I have learned

Hard things happen to everyone. But hard things are what make the good times so good. Can you imagine if nothing ever went wrong in our lives? Well, maybe it sounds good but getting through hard stuff is what makes us learn and get stronger. Next time a problem happens, we will have had some practice in how to get through it.

So you’ve been in an earthquake. What did you learn about from this?

Maybe you learned that being in an earthquake is really scary!

OR you never knew how tough and strong you could be when going through something scary like an earthquake.

OR maybe you learned that lots of people care about you and will help you out when you are going through a rough time.

OR that you really miss your mum, dad or other people that you care about when they are not around.

OR that it’s not much fun having to go to the toilet in a portaloo.

OR you have learned that if you could get through the earthquake you can get through anything.

OR when you get upset next time you’ll remember to talk to your whānau or someone else close to you about it.

OR the rest of New Zealand and the rest of the world thinks that Christchurch and the people here are really special.

OR ????

Have a think about what you have learned since the earthquake. Which things might come in handy next time you have a problem?

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