[THEME SONG BEGINS]
>>RACHEL: Hey there, it’s time for Chompers. Your morning and night toothbrushing show.
It’s Your Questions Week. That means Jasmine is finding answers to YOUR questions!
Start brushing on the top of your mouth, and make little circles with your brush around each tooth.
>>KIDS: 3, 2, 1 brush!
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>>JASMINE: Today’s question is from our Chompion Ewan.
>>EWAN: Hi. My question is: how can I make my friend stop chasing me?
>>JASMINE: Ewan we asked our friend Dr. Alexandra Sacks to answer your question.
>>DR. SACKS: Hi Ewan. I'm a feelings doctor and I talk to people every day about questions like this. Things that are scary things that are confusing and yes someone chasing you around when you don't think that's very fun is not easy at all.
>>JASMINE: Switch to the other side of the top of your mouth…
[SWITCH BELL]
>>JASMINE: -and brush all the way to the back.
>>DR. SACKS: What I think is, it’s hard to know is why are they chasing you right? So here's the thing. Sometimes people are chasing you to make you feel bad to make you feel scared.
But other times people might be chasing you because they want to talk to you, it may be their confusing way of trying to say will you play with me, and they may not have a better way of showing you that. So either way I think the first thing you could do is just stop, stop runnning and turn around and say, please stop chasing me.
>>JASMINE: Switch your brushing to the bottom of your mouth…
[SWITCH BELL]
>>JASMINE: -and brush your front teeth, too.
>>DR. SACKS: The next thing you could do is say, “Why are you chasing me? Is there another way that we could play?” or “Would you please leave me alone?” and see what they say. They might surprise you and tell you that they actually want to be friends or that they want you to come play with them. Maybe someone’s been chasing them, like a mean older brother. So they might think that it’s a thing that all kids do. And not know that it’s ok to say, I wanna stop. So you could tell them I don't like this feeling of you chasing me. I don't like this game.
We don't have to do that together.
>>JASMINE: Switch to the other side of the bottom of your mouth…
[SWITCH BELL]
>>JASMINE: -but don’t brush too hard.
>>DR. SACKS: And that might make them stop because they might not know that it’s not fun for you.
>>JASMINE: What else could you do?
>>DR. SACKS: I think you could try bringing in another friend someone who you really feel safe around like a buddy and see if that person will hang out with you and maybe that will get this chaser to leave you alone. And if none of those things work you can always ask a grown up for help.
>>JASMINE: Exactly, you can always ask a grownup for help.
[THEME SONG BEGINS]
>>JASMINE: That’s it for Chompers tonight, make sure you…
>>KIDS: 3, 2, 1 spit!
[THEME SONG ENDS]
>>JASMINE: Special thanks to Dr Alexandra Sacks. Grown ups, you might want to check out her podcast, Motherhood sessions, a Gimlet show for grown ups where Dr AS talks with moms about motherhood.