Analysis Of Alexander And The Terrible No Great, Very Bad Day

Alexander’s Contributions Having a bad day can seem daunting, perhaps causing feelings like nothing can go right regardless of what you do. This seems to be the case in “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” No matter what Alexander does, the day just doesn’t get better. From breakfast all the way to bed time, Alexander is miserable. Many things that Alexander experiences are avoidable through a better outlook on life and proper parenting. In this story, Alexander suffers from a phenomenon known as negativity bias. As Dunn and associates put it, “young children tend to preferentially discuss and remember negative events from their daily lives” (Kiley et al.). The negativity bias shatters hope of optimism and prevents

He doesn’t listen to his parents, which is evident when they go to pick up his dad from work. Alexander does everything that he is not supposed to do at his dad’s work. He plays with the copying machine, knocks over the books on his dad’s desk, and calls Australia on the business phone. It seems that every time Alexander gets into trouble from his parents, it is because he is doing something that he shouldn’t be. If he connects the behavior with the consequence, perhaps he won’t be in trouble so often. The root of this problem stems from his upbringing. His parents let him get away with his behavior for his entire life and it will only get worse. Perhaps if his parents raised him by using enforceable statements to guide him, he would listen better than he does. Dr. Foster Cline and Jim Fay say, “every time we tell a stubborn person what to do, they don’t comply, and we find ourselves at a loss for what to do, they learn that our words are meaningless” (Cline and Fay). Alexander’s dad simply said not to knock over books or play with the copying machine. His dad could have instead provided an enforceable consequence by saying something like, “I allow kids to play when they get home if they are respectful in my work place.” That simple statement would establish the standard and provide a consequence that is enforceable. Alexander is also likely given numerous chances to behave correctly. According to Cline and Fay, “kids will always

The constant protective aura is surrounding kids until they leave their parents nest. When they go into the real world, they simply don’t know how to handle making calculated risks. Many parents also lack the knowledge to teach their children how to properly handle emotions and regulate behaviors. This lack of ability to control emotions is detrimental to the overall social health of young adults. When I read this book with my kids, I like to talk about some of the negative things that were happening and relate them to things happening in my kids’ lives. The ability to be able to handle adversity and control emotions as appropriate for a given social situation is paramount to the success of the next generations as they go off to replace us in the workforce and in society. It is true that having a bad day can be discouraging. Alexander just needs to learn how to be resilient and his parents need to provide more persistent consequences for breaking the