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Showing posts from March, 2026

Dr. Evil and Ms. Prudence Putty-Nose

Daddy Wasn't There!  is a song featured in the film Gold Member. Mike Myers plays the role of Austin Powers, the James Bond type, man of the moment who has issues about the absentee father who was ‘never there’ at those crucial milestone moments of his formal development. Hence the song Daddy Wasn’t There! Austin had a twin brother, called Douglas Power, aka Dr. Evil who was thought to have died in a car explosion, and was subsequently adopted by a Belgian family who taught him to be evil. How this was done is of course conjecture, but I would suggest that Douglas may have been programmed to believe he was an exceptional type and people, all people, should, must defer to him and his specialness. Dr. Evil is self-absorbed, needs to be admired, and scorns those who do not revere him as he must be. He has a fragile ego and demands that others validate his status as an exceptional human being. So fragile is his ego he must destroy those perceived to be his competitors or enemi...

Ms. Prudence Putty - Nose Sees a Counsellor

  Ms Prudence Putty – Nose went to a counsellor because she was flying off the handle a bit when she didn’t get what she wanted and she lasted one session. The counsellor said that her sense of her own exceptionalism, that she was a better breed of person and that others should see this and act accordingly was the cause of her high anxiety and need of approval. Ms Putty   Nose was affronted by this and could not see how she was responsible for how she felt and behaved and not the furniture, the weather, or the popularity of a teacher peer she despised and she decided that counselling wasn’t for her. She was even resentful of a teacher colleague who had cancer, as her condition was taking away precious attention from her. ‘I wish she didn’t get cancer. It’s not fair,’ she thought. "Cancer envy" is a recognized, complex, and often shame-inducing emotion where individuals may envy the attention, support, or care others receive during a cancer diagnosis.” She went back to her ...

Have a Go Spaghettio! and the Catastrophe Scale

  This presentation introduces or revisits the catastrophe scale or CS for short. The CS is a partner tool to the ET, the Emotional Thermometer, a tool that the young constructivist can learn to use to manage behaviour and emotion especially in difficult circumstances. It develops EQ capacity. Helping the early childhood constructivist to put problems into some kind of perspective will ease emotional disquiet and behavioural upset. So how is it taught? Here are some ideas. Here we visit again the story of Arthur. This story employs   Albert Ellis’ ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance as a critical literacy tool, which we use here to analyse a text that introduces the notion that ‘it isn’t what happens to us that makes us feel and act as we do, but it's how we view, interpret the situation, our response to it.’ Epictetus 100AD In the story Arthur feels out of sorts, extremely anxious and full of self-doubt. He seeks the approval of others and tries to change the essence ...