Good Little Girls

In this video, the eight year old girl explains how she relaxes and finds a balance in the stresses of life. Though the stressors faced by today's children ARE a lot more different than in the 19th century, the way we are encouraged to handle ourselves despite being in stressful situations remains the same. I feel like the underlying message of the video is finding healthy ways to manage stress levels and control our impulses, we, as the little girl said need to "try our best and try harder". In the readings, it says that Gerty "had other less pleasing impulses" (p.133) that needed to be controlled that required conscious effort. When Gerty threw the rock at Nan Grant's wall, that was completely impulsive as just minutes before, Gerty was afraid to as much as pass the house. After, "she felt unhappy in her little heart. She did not understand herself, or her own sensations" (p.134) The need for balance and way to handle our impulses properly is displayed here.

In the same way, the little girl in the video was introduced with impressive credentials, even before we meet this girl, our expectations were high. People today are held to a high standard by what we do and it wasn't different in the 19th century. Finding balance and ways to promote that balance is important in dealing with events in our lives that are stressful.

I believe that things would have totally been different if Gerty was on the show. Anna, the girl on the show, handled her stress in a healthy way. Gerty acted on her impulses and I think that would be the focus of her interview instead of ways in which Gerty does promote the balance in her life. I feel like the show would be very humorous and would focus on what Gerty did such as throwing rocks at Nan Grant's window and her desire to beat up the girl from school. However, we see here that Gerty controlled her impulses by running from what she wanted to do instead of working through it. I feel like if Gerty would be in today's society, she would be encouraged to work through the situation in order to control her naughty impulses instead of being encouraged, as she was by Miss Emily to "be good, and love everybody" (p.149). In today's society, she would have been given a "how to" in doing better and would have more guidance. Just as in the video the girl SHOWED Amy Poehler how to do yoga and taught proper techniques. She didn't just say go do yoga to release negative energy, there were lessons involved.