(cheery music)
♪ You are the best you the world will see ♪
♪ Come along now and share you with me ♪
♪ Let's learn something new and share feelings too ♪
♪ 'Cause these are the things to do to be the best you ♪
(cheery music continues)
- Hello, friends.
Hello, Possum.
- Oh, hi, Auntie Lena.
- Possum, you sound so gloomy. What's wrong?
- Mama Possum said that I gotta go to a new school
'cause ours is closing.
I'm scared and I don't know anybody at the new school.
- I get why you're feelin' kinda low.
Change can be scary sometimes.
- Mm-hmm.
- Maybe we can troubleshoot to think through this fear.
- Troubleshoot? - Yes.
When big changes happen in our lives,
the scariest part about it
is not knowing what's coming next.
When you troubleshoot,
you kinda play and pretend with your future,
thinking about the different possibilities
given your situation.
- Well, I do like to play pretend.
- Yeah, and it might help you feel better.
- Right now, I don't think I'll ever feel better.
- Oh, I know, Possum.
But I promise you will.
Talking is a great way
to get all those unky and scared feelings out,
and decide what to do to feel better.
Remember Kerry the Caring Koala?
- Oh, yeah. Everybody in the jungle went to him to talk.
- Exactly.
And there's a saying, "You gotta name it to claim it."
- Claim what?
- How you'd like to feel
rather than how you're feelin' right now.
- Oh, Auntie Lena, I don't know.
What if I don't like my new school?
- Mm, and what if you do?
- Well, I don't know.
- Possum, can you tell me what you're scared about the most?
- Making new friends, getting to know a new teacher.
And what if this school is too hard?
I don't wanna look like I'm dumb.
- Dumb? Possum, you're very smart.
But I understand.
And what you're feeling is important.
When you know you're feeling sad, scared, or down,
you can think about things that can help you feel better.
What about having a story read to you, would you like that?
- Yeah, that'd be okay.
- Good, I have the perfect book in mind.
- Really? - Yes, really.
It's a story about a little girl named Cathy,
who had to move and leave her dear friend, brave Mrs. Sato.
Mrs. Sato shares her story
about when she had to leave home too.
The story is written by Lori Matsukawa.
Let's go to the Fifth Avenue Theatre
and listen as Miss Lori reads "Brave Mrs. Sato"
with our friends.
(bright music)
- Hi, friends.
I'm Miss Lori, with my friend...
- Naeema.
- We're at the Fifth Avenue Theatre.
And today, we're going to read my book called...
- [Naeema] "Brave Mrs. Sato."
- It's illustrated by my friend Tammy Yee,
and it's based on my real life babysitter
and my real life grandma.
You ready?
[Miss Lori] "Every morning, Cathy's mom dropped her off
at Mrs. Sato's house.
Mrs. Sato took care of Cathy
until her mom finished work, teaching at the local school.
Cathy loved Mrs. Sato's neat, clean home.
The linoleum was always shiny
and the stairs, carefully swept.
Like so many homes in Hawaii,
there was a large mango tree in the backyard
with red anthurium flowers around it.
Sometimes Mrs. Sato let Cathy help her with her ikebana,
Japanese flower arranging.
'See Cathy,' Mrs. Sato would say,
'Ikebana always looks natural, neh?'
She peered through her glasses
and tipped her head to the side.
'Just a few flowers and leaves.
It makes me feel peaceful inside.'
Cathy thought the kiku chrysanthemums looked like fireworks.
Other times, Mrs. Sato would let Cathy
help her make tsukemono pickled cabbage for dinner.
She'd soak the leaves in a heavy, porcelain pot
filled with salt water.
She let Cathy put a smooth stone on top
to press the cabbage down.
When Cathy ate it later with hot rice and soy sauce,
she sighed, 'Mrs. Sato, this is so good,
I just can't stop eating it!'
Once, Cathy slipped on the front steps
and bumped her head.
A lump began to form on her forehead.
'Mrs. Sato,' Cathy began to cry.
Mrs. Sato shuffled quickly to her
in her homemade cloth slippers.
'Nani? What?'
She quickly grabbed an egg from the refrigerator
and began rubbing it over the lump.
'Namu Amida butsu, Namu Amida butsu,'
Mrs. Sato murmured as she rubbed.
Cathy stared at Mrs. Sato's hand
and felt the cold egg on her lump.
She was so fascinated by Mrs. Sato's prayer to Buddha,
she forgot all about the pain.
And once in a while, Mrs. Sato would open a camphor chest,"
camphor is a sweet-smelling wood,
"and take out a flowery silk kimono.
She'd wrap Cathy in it, and Cathy fluttered around the room.
'I'm a butterfly,' she laughed.
But one day, Cathy arrived with a sad look on her face.
'What's wrong, Cathy-chan,' asked Mrs. Sato.
'Oh, Mrs. Sato,' wailed Cathy.
'My parents are moving to a new town.
I won't be able to see you every day.
I have to make new friends.
What if they don't like me?'
Mrs. Sato gave Cathy a warm hug.
'Moving isn't easy, neh?
It was hard for me to come to this country from Japan.
I was a picture bride, you know.'
Cathy looked up. 'You're a what?'
'A picture bride,' smiled Mrs. Sato.
'When Mr. Sato was young, he worked in the cane fields.
He wanted a wife, so he wrote back to Japan
and asked that his village sent him a young woman to marry.'
'That was you,' asked Cathy, her eyes wide with surprise.
Mrs. Sato nodded.
'I'd never met Mr. Sato,
but my parents said it was a fine match.
They sent Mr. Sato my photograph
so he'd know who to look for at the boat dock.'"
They had to take a long trip on the boat across the ocean
to get to Hawaii.
[Miss Lori]"'It was a long journey.
And I felt very sick leaving my home.
But it was what my parents wanted.
They knew I would find a better life in Hawaii.'
Cathy felt sad for Mrs. Sato.
"'Weren't you lonely,' she whispered.
'Oh, yes! At first I was,' said Mrs. Sato.
'But Mr. Sato was a kind and good husband.
Whenever I missed my village,
I picked some flowers and would do my ikebana.
It made me feel peaceful.'"
Here she's bringing some ikebana to Mr. Sato's office.
He's working in a bank now heaps,
not working in the sugarcane fields.
[Miss Lori]"'Or I'd take out my childhood kimono
and feel the smooth silk.
Then I'd feel much better.'
'Mrs. Sato, you were very brave,' said Cathy
as she looked at the gentle brown eyes behind the glasses.
'And so you must be, too,' smiled Mrs. Sato.
'Come.'
She took Cathy by the hand.
They walked to the camphor chest.
She opened it and took out the flowery kimono.
'Take this with you to your home,' she told Cathy.
'Whenever you're lonely, look at it,
wear it and think of me.
You are much braver than you know.'
Cathy hugged Mrs. Sato.
And together they walked to the kitchen
for some tsukemono and tea."
That's it.
Naeema, and friends out there,
I brought with me a little ikebana,
a little Japanese flower arranging project.
And I'm gonna ask you all to help me
decide how many stems I'm gonna put in here.
Mrs. Sato always said it made her feel peaceful inside
when she was upset or feeling sad.
Ikebana starts with three stems:
a tall one, a medium one, and a short one.
And we can stop right here.
That would be a flower arrangement, wouldn't it?
Should we add another stem?
- Yes.
- Yes, let's add another one.
I'm glad you said that.
Okay, here's one. Let's add this one.
This is a chrysanthemum flower.
It's very popular in Japan.
There we go.
Should we stop there or should we add one more stem?
- One more stem.
- One more stem, okay.
You are a very good flower artist.
You know what looks good.
So we're gonna add this one.
So there's our ikebana display.
Tall, medium, short.
Simple and very pretty, don't you think?
Thanks for helping me, Naeema.
- You're welcome.
- Let's say goodbye to our friends.
- Bye, friends. - Bye, friends.
- Auntie Lena, how did Mrs. Sato get so brave?
- It was important for her to please her parents
and do what they asked, Possum,
so she found ways to help herself feel better or cope.
That means she had to face the hard feelings
about moving from Japan to Hawaii,
even though she was scared.
- Oh, Mrs. Sato had to move a long, long, long way
away from her friends.
- And her family too.
And she had to keep practicing to feel better.
It's just like when you practice other things,
you can get better at calming yourself when you feel sad.
- But that sounds so hard.
- It can be.
However, Mrs. Sato had some things to do
to help her when she felt lonely.
You can do that too, Possum.
- Oh, should I pick flowers to feel better like Mrs. Sato?
- Well, yes and no.
Picking flowers made Mrs. Sato feel better.
But maybe there is something that works better for you.
Can you think of what you can do for yourself
to help you calm yourself?
- Well, reading the story helped me feel calm.
- I'm glad.
What else might cheer you up?
- Having Mama Possum make me worm s'ghetti.
- Oh, yes, comfort food.
I like making beef noodle soup when I'm down.
What else?
- Mm, making stuff cheers me up too.
- Yeah, like art.
Just like brave Mrs. Sato's ikebana.
- Oh, yeah. Should we make that?
- How about we make a feelings wheel, Possum?
- Well, I don't know what that is.
Will it make me feel better?
- It could help you name how you're feeling,
which helps you learn better what to do
when you're feeling those feelings.
Let's return to the Fifth Avenue Theatre arts prop shop,
and Miss Sara can show us how to make a feelings wheel.
(bright music)
- Hi, friends.
This is Miss Sara coming to you
from the Fifth Avenue Theatre costume Shop.
Today, we're gonna be making a feelings wheel.
I've prepared one already so you can see what we're doin'.
Basically, this is to help you
kind of map out what you're feeling.
See, this arrow can swivel around
and point to however you're feeling.
Are you feeling excited? (exclaims)
Are you feeling angrier? (grunts)
Are you feeling calm? Mm.
This will help you identify what it is you're feeling.
Right now I'm excited.
I'm excited to be with you guys, doin' this feelings wheel.
Okay, so, if you are at home,
you can use either a paper plate
or, sometimes it's easier to use like an actual plate.
So we're gonna go around the plate to make a circle.
Be very careful with the scissors.
Ask your, your grown-ups
before using a big scissor.
Okay, again, we're gonna eyeball.
Where's the center of this thing?
Eyeballing in the center.
Now, we're gonna make an arrow.
See this arrow?
I'm gonna show you a trick how to make it
out of this secondary piece of paper here.
Fold it once.
Find the folded edge.
This is where we're gonna make our half of an arrow, okay?
Use your ruler if you want. I'm gonna eyeball it.
Let's see.
We're gonna do a line, one line,
and then like a little triangle.
And that'll be your half of an arrow.
See? Half of an arrow.
Make sure you did it on the folded side.
If you do it on the open side, this trick won't work.
Okay, scissors again.
Carefully, watch your fingers.
Three very careful cuts with your very careful scissors.
An arrow. Beautiful.
The next step is mapping out all of your emotions on here.
What we're gonna do is we're gonna start with,
maybe start with the emotion that you feel the most.
The emotion I feel the most,
especially when I'm doing arts and crafts, is happiness.
I'm gonna start right over here.
Let's see, happy.
Love it.
I'm doing this on the outside edge of my circle.
Happy.
What would you say is the opposite of happiness?
Let's go to the very opposite side.
Angry. (grunts)
Angry.
Maybe what's in between happiness and anger.
Maybe excited?
Excited.
But also maybe you're a little nervous.
Nervous.
Your emotions are up here.
And maybe you want your emotions to come down a little bit
so you're more calm.
Let's put calm.
Calm is a great place to be for learning.
The opposite, or kind of somewhere similar to calm,
might be bored.
Bored.
Bored usually means you need an additional challenge,
or you need the task to be a little harder to be fun.
Let's see.
Well, we put sad in there.
Sad.
Maybe one day you're feeling proud,
feeling pride in what you have accomplished.
Have you felt that before? Oh, I have.
And I think you'll feel it after you make this piece too.
So this is a brad.
See, it has like a button or a little bobble on top.
And then if you turn it over,
it has two little barbs on it.
What we're gonna do
is we're gonna press the little barbs through the paper.
You're gonna put the two little leggies,
poke them through the two of your papers.
And then let's see the other side.
You got the two leggies sittin' out, just fold 'em down.
Careful not to poke yourself.
And there you go. Ta-da!
Do you feel proud? Do you feel happy?
There it is.
Now you can stop there, or you can have some stickers.
I added stickers on this one.
Or you can make little faces.
Or you can do whatever you want.
This is your feelings wheel.
Thanks for coming along with me again. This is so fun.
And I hope you enjoyed yourself at home.
Bye, friends.
- Are you feeling better
after doing the feelings wheel, Possum?
- Mm, a little.
Auntie Lena, I wanna be brave when I go to my new school.
- You will be, Possum.
Remember, being brave doesn't mean you're not scared,
it just means you have courage to do something
even though you are afraid.
- Well, I'm scared I won't make any friends
at my new school.
How will being brave get me friends?
- Well, maybe it's time to do that troubleshooting
we were talking about. - Oh.
- First of all, you have friends right now, right?
- Well, yeah. And Turtle's my best friend.
- Good, so have some confidence in yourself
and your ability to make friends, Possum.
And who are some of your other friends?
- Frog, Raven, and Beaver.
Beaver was a new kid at school last year.
- That's right.
I remember when Beaver was new at your school.
They were quiet and shy, but you were courageous,
and you still went up to Beaver
and became friends with them.
- Yeah, and other kids were making fun of Beaver
'cause he wouldn't talk.
And I told them to stop.
- You noticed the new kid in your old school.
I bet a kid in your new school will notice you too.
And in the meantime, you can check out what teams, clubs,
or other groups they have that you can join.
It's a great way to meet new people.
- Yeah, I can do that.
- And maybe you can just say hi
to someone you don't even know.
You can compliment them on something you notice
and like about them.
It's a nice way to start a conversation.
- I can do that too.
- You can also talk to Mama Possum.
She might have some ideas also.
Hey, let's do something else
that I know will make you feel better.
- Okay, what's that?
- How about we make some pickled vegetables,
just like brave Mrs. Sato and Cathy did.
- Oh, yeah, that sounds yummy!
- Great.
Let's go to our friend's house,
where Mr. Gene will show us how.
(bright music)
- Hi, friends. - Hi, friends.
- I'm Mr. Gene. - And I'm Linnel.
- And we're in the kitchen.
What are we making in the kitchen today, Lynelle?
- Pickled cucumbers.
- Yay!
(Gene and Lynelle laugh)
All right, so let's get started.
So today we're gonna need one large cucumber,
but we have two, and some rice vinegar here,
and some sugar and salt.
Let's get started by slicing some cucumbers.
Yeah, so you're gonna do it about this small, looks like,
and cut about this much.
- [Lynelle] This one's hard.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- And then you know what this is for, right?
- Compost.
- Yes, this is called a compost bin.
So we're gonna throw in the end pieces in there.
- Okay.
- And do you wanna...
- Finished.
- Yeah. Oh, wow, you're so fast.
You're so good at this.
- [Lynelle] I learned from the best.
- The best, huh?
What kinda things do you like to make at home?
- Pancakes.
- Pancakes, huh?
Do you like any toppings on your pancakes?
- Blueberries.
- Ooh, those are my favorites too.
In the book "Brave Mr. Sato," she makes a tsukemono,
which is kind of like a simple pickles as well.
Can you say tsukemono with me?
- Tsukemono. - Yeah.
What you do with pickles is you could preserve food in salt.
And that's what we're doing today,
salt and vinegar and sugar.
So we get a nice, tangy taste.
Nice, sweet, and salty at the same time. Perfect for summer.
All right. Oh, look, you did so great.
They're so nice and cut up.
All right, so what's the next ingredient?
- One cup of rice vinegar.
- Yes, one-fourth cup.
(vinegar trickles)
And it looks like there's a little bit of sugar
that goes in next.
So this is our sugar.
- One tablespoon.
- [Mr. Gene] Perfect.
All right, let's give that a little stir.
We're gonna sprinkle a little bit of the salt in there.
Do you wanna help me with that as well?
Okay, perfect.
It's about two teaspoons worth of salt.
All right, that should be about two teaspoons, right?
- Mm-hmm, okay.
- [Mr. Gene] Let's give it some more stirring.
Needs a little bit more tension.
Oh, yeah, use that. That looks great.
That's a whisk.
- I mean, it's dissolving faster.
- Yeah, there you go.
Gotta know what the right tools to use sometimes.
All right, does that look dissolved now?
- [Lynelle] Yes. - Perfect.
All right, so let's just go ahead
and pour it right into our mixture
of sliced cucumbers and salt.
All right, and then let's give it a little stir.
- How? They're so hard.
- They're so big, right?
And then we're gonna have to let it sit for about an hour.
- An hour.
- Yeah, a whole hour.
- So like- - Sometimes.
- So like 60 minutes.
- Yeah, 60 minutes.
Sometimes food takes a long time to make it taste great.
And now, with the magic of television,
we have a whole hour that we've spent.
So let's go ahead and try it.
- You first. - Me first?
Okay, I'll try the small one, right.
Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
- Mm, that's so tangy and sweet and salty
all at the same time.
Kinda tastes like salt and vinegar chips, right?
But healthier.
- Thank you, Mr. Gene,
for showing me how to make pickled cucumbers.
- Bye, friends. - Bye, friends.
(magical chime)
- Oh, those pickled vegetables
were so tasty, Auntie Lena.
(gasps) Maybe I can show my class at my new school
how to make them at Show and Tell.
- That's a great idea, Possum. Very good.
And I understand you're nervous about switching schools,
but think about all the things you were afraid of
and you tried 'em and you ended up loving them.
You've learned a line dance,
sing a solo in front of your school,
make passion fruit lemonade due to hokey-pokey,
and so much more.
- Wow, you're right. I have tried a lot of new things.
- You sure have.
And now, not only do you have some fun
new hobbies under your belt,
but you can also introduce them
to your new friends at your new school.
- Oh, that's true.
They probably never made a microscope before
or even played the concertina.
Maybe they'll think it's cool.
- Exactly.
And remember, like in the story, "Dragon And Unicorn,"
differences don't always mean that you won't get along.
Sometimes being different is exactly what you do need
to get along with someone.
But don't forget, Possum,
you need to be open to learning from them too.
- But what if they don't wanna show me things
like I wanna show them?
- Well, that's okay too.
You just keep doing you.
But usually we all wanna be kind to one another,
it just takes someone to make the first step.
- Oh, well, I can make the first step.
I love being the leader.
- I know you do, Possum.
Also, if the school you're now at is closing,
where are all of your classmates going to school next?
- Oh, well, I don't know.
I haven't asked them yet.
- Well, some of them are probably going
to your new school too.
- Oh, yeah. (laughs)
I didn't even think about that.
Oh, thank you, Auntie Lena, for helping me troubleshoot.
I feel better about going to a new school now.
- Ooh, I'm glad.
And you're welcome, Possum.
And, friends, thank you for taking the time
to look, listen, and learn with us today.
Remember, you're the best you that the world will ever see.
- Bye for now. - Bye, bye.
(cheerful music)
- [Presenter] Now, for Auntie Lena's parenthood.
- We all know a new environment
is one of the scariest situations
that you can put your child in.
New schools, new activities,
even new additions to the family.
All these scenarios introduce uncertainty
and fear to your little one's never-ending mind flow.
Fortunately, like the flowers in "Brave Mrs. Sato,"
there are numerous, simple, and easy methods
to help kiddos acclimate to a new environment.
Number one, change perception.
Children may get worked up over completely irrational fears,
thoughts such as, "I'll never make any friends,"
or, "No one will ever like me."
These seem extreme,
however, they cross all of our minds from time to time.
And the best way to counter these negative feelings
is to simply look at all the facts.
Do you have friends now?
Have people liked you in the past?
Number two, preparing.
One of the best ways to alleviate anxiety
is to set yourself up for success.
You can help troubleshoot with your early learner
or take your kid to school before the first day
to learn the layout early
or even role model a situation that they're anxious about.
And number three, comfort.
While changing perception
and preparation are both solid approaches
to calming a child's worried feelings,
sometimes they just need the old-fashioned technique,
comfort food, hugs, or story time.
Whether it's a worn out story or repeated lunchtime snack,
sometimes we all just need a constant
in our ever-changing lives.
Like Mrs. Sato,
being brave is ultimately about self-regulation.
How do I get myself in check to calm down
and do what I need to do?
Teaching early learners to self-soothe is a skill,
one that will help them to be
the best versions of themselves
that the world will ever see.
(cheerful piano music begins)
- [Narrator] "Look, Listen and Learn"
is brought to you in part by Thistle Theatre.
Thistle Theatre is a local
professional puppet theater for families.
We feature an ancient Japanese style of puppetry
called Tabletop Bunraku.
Learn more at thistletheatre.org.
(cheerful piano music continues)