Alex's Promise

You’ll need

A copy of the story and discussion questions

Philosophy Discussion Guidance For Leaders

PDF – 77.7KB

Download

Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
Make sure you’ll have enough helpers for each team to have one. You may need some parents and carers to help out if you’re short on helpers.

Getting ready for the story

You may want to change parts of their story below to make it appropriate for the group you are working with.
Gather everyone together in a circle.
Ask if anyone knows what a Promise is. See if anyone can remember the last time they promised something - it may have even been today.
Does anyone want to share their Promise or say if they kept the Promise?
See if anyone knows the Scout Promise or can remember making their Promise.
Explain that you're going to read a story called ‘Alex's Promise’, then talk about it after.

Alex’s Promise - a story

Alex is 10 years old and she loves being in Scouts. She is kind and helpful, but Alex sometimes finds it very difficult to keep a promise.

‘Will you help me with the washing today, Alex?’ Mum asked on Saturday.

’I’m doing something today,’ Alex replied, ‘I’ll help tomorrow, I promise!’

‘Where's Alex?’ Mum thought the next day, when she came to hang the washing out.

Alex had gone trampolining with a friend. It wasn't that Alex didn’t want to keep the promise, but she’d simply forgotten about it. Mum was left tidying up the washing by herself.

On Tuesday, Alex was going to her Scouts meeting. Alex had joined Scouts recently and really enjoyed it. Alex loved den building and biscuit decorating, but today she was a little worried.

Alex knew she sometimes had trouble remembering to keep promises and tonight everyone was making their Scouts Promise. Alex was nervous if she'd break this promise as well.

Mum dropped Alex off outside the Scout hut in the carpark. However, Alex stopped before reaching the door.

‘I wish I could just keep my promises!’ Alex mumbled.

With a flash, a genie appeared. The genie was tall and blue and surrounded by smoke that made Alex cough.

‘I hear you wanted to make a wish,’ the Genie said, raising an eyebrow.

Alex’s eyes widened and she nodded.

‘Very well,’ the Genie smiled, ‘I grant you your wish!’

Alex though the Genie would now disappear again with a bang, but heard a booming voice instead.

‘BUT,’ the Genie boomed, his arms folded, ‘From now on you will not be able to break any of your promises, Alex.’

Alex nodded in agreement and, with another flash, the genie was gone.

Alex looked around in shock, but no-one else was there.

‘Did I just speak to a genie? Surely not!’ Alex thought, ‘Hmmm, let's try it out! I promise to be helpful to Jack, our leader’

Still feeling nervous and a bit uncertain, Alex went into the Scout hall. Everyone was playing a game. They were playing Red Light, Green Light. It was Alex’s favourite game and Alex was excited to join in.

But then, she heard a voice.

‘Can I have some help?’ she heard a familiar voice say. It was Jack.

Alex looked around for Jack. She spotted him in the corner, getting things from the cupboard. Alex felt her arm going into the air with a whoosh to put her hand up, but she had no control over what she was doing.

‘Ahh, just what I need, thank you Alex!’ Jack said, ‘Can you take this jug and these cups to the kitchen?’ Alex went over and helped Jack.

‘The spell has worked!’ Alex thought.

At the end of the meeting, Alex made her promise. From then on, Alex found it much easier to keep all her promises and continued to enjoy Scouts. She even went to her first Scout camp!

One day, Alex came home after school and saw her mum was very excited. She had just graduated from university and she'd been invited to a big presentation.

‘I know this is a big thing to ask, but would you attend the presentation with me, Alex? I’d be thrilled if you came with me and saw me get the degree,’ Mum said.

'I want to support you mum, but I don't really want to be the only young person there,’ Alex replied, giving her a hug.

'That's OK, we wouldn’t have to be there long. It’s up to you, but I’d love to celebrate this with you,’ Mum said.

Alex thought for a moment and could see how happy her Mum was. They both got in the car to go to Scouts.

‘OK Mum, I’ll come with you, I promise,’ Alex smiled, before getting out of the car and heading into the meeting.

The meeting was very exciting. They were all working hard to practice their performances in their fundraising show. Everyone was very excited, as Jack, the leader, told them the show had sold out.

Alex performed her song on her guitar for everyone and got a big round of applause at the end.

Jack reminded everyone of the date and Alex’s eyes widened. It was the same day as her mum’s graduation. She’d got the dates mixed up.

Alex felt sad. She wanted to do both, but didn’t want to break a promise to her mum or to the Scout group. Jack had noticed Alex was a little quiet and looking sad.

'I can't wait for you to sing at the concert, Alex,' Jack said, as everyone tidied up.

'Oh yeah,' Alex said, quietly.

'Is everything OK?' Jack asked.

‘I think so,’ Alex smiled and nodded, not wanting to say he might miss the concert Jack had planned.

‘I’ve just made too many promises,' Alex thought on the way home.

The day before the concert and the graduation, Alex was in the garden playing football.

Another flash appeared and Alex stood still. It was the Genie.

‘Hello, Alex!’ The Genie boomed.

‘Shh!’ Alex said, putting her finger to her lips, ‘be quiet, my mum will hear!’

‘I’m sorry, Alex. I’ve just come to let you know that my magic will soon be stopping. You’ll be on your own to keep your promises, but I know you can do it! I believe in you, just like you’ve believed in me!’ the Genie explained.

‘How co-.?’ Alex started to ask, but the Genie was already gone.

‘Hmm,’ Alex said, ‘Okay, let’s test it. I promise to take the bins out tonight.’ Alex smiled.

Later that evening, Alex was too busy colouring in and forgot to take the bins out. The next morning, Alex heard the bin lorries outside and remembered he’d forgotten his Promise.

Alex led in bed for a long time. After a while, they decided what they wanted to do. Alex changed into her Scout uniform, ready for the concert.

When Alex went downstairs, she saw her mum is sitting in their living room. She was wearing a lovely dress for her graduation and had was holding her cap and gown.

‘You look nice, Mum,’ Alex smiled, proudly.

‘Oh, thank you, Alex. Are you ready to go?' Mum said. She noticed Alex was in her uniform.

‘Mum, I’m sorry, but there’s something I need to ask you,’ Alex said, looking at her feet.

‘Of course,’ Mum smiled.

‘I’ve made two promises to you and to my Scout group. I don’t want to let either of you down or break the promises. So I’ve had a big think. Can I come to your graduation in my uniform? Your graduation will finish at 4pm the ticket says, and the concert starts at 7pm, so I can do both and might even have some time to practice,’ Alex explained, hesitantly.

'Of course, Alex. I couldn’t be prouder of you keeping both your promises,’ Mum smiled,

‘Even my Scout Promise?’ Alex asked.

‘Yes, especially your Scout Promise,’ Mum said, ‘You always do your best, help other people and keep your Scouts values, Alex. You're caring, honest and respectful. I don't think you ever need to worry about breaking that promise, even if you sometimes do forget to help with the washing!’

Alex smiled the biggest smile she could.

‘Now let’s get going, it sounds like we have busy day!’ Mum smiled back.

Talking about Promises

Let everyone get up and move around after listening to the story. They could do a few star jumps or stretches to take time to think about the story.
Ask each of these questions in turn, giving people who want to and are happy to answer the chance to:

If you break a promise, does that mean you lied when you made it?
Alex was under the genie's spell when she made some of the promises. Does that mean Alex is still able to be a good Scout?
Which promise did you think Alex would keep when she couldn't decide between the two?
Do you think Alex broken her Scout promise?
Why do you think Mum was so proud of Alex attend?

Reflecting on our own Promises

Give everyone chance to think about the promises they have made recently. They should think about some they had kept, and some they may have forgotten about and broken.
Ask if anyone has ever had a promise made to them and if the promise has been broken. How did it feel? Did the person tell you they couldn't make the promise any more? If they did, did this make it easier? If not, how did it feel to find out the promise wasn't happening? Did you feel happy or sad? Did it affect how much you trusted that person or their promises in the future? Did anything not happen because of the broken promise?
Explain that while we should try not to make promises we can't keep, if a promise is sometimes broken that's OK. It happens to everyone, but we need to be honest and tell the person as soon as we know we can no longer do it.
We might break a promise for lots of different reasons. We might have too much to do, have an emergency to deal with, not know what we're doing when we come to do the task and need help, we might simply forget, or we might not realise the consequences of what the promise meant.
Tell everyone that we should always tell someone if we can no longer carry out a promise or if we need help to do it.
However, if we don't tell someone we can't do the promise and then don't carry out the promise, it can make them feel sad. If we make and break promises to someone a lot, they start feeling unimportant, worthless, sad or rejected. They may think we can't be trusted or might stop asking us to help with things.

Making a promise

Ask everyone is there anything we should think about before making a promise. Some answers might be if we want to do what we're being asked, if we have time to do it, and if we can do it.
Explain that we should think about what might happen if the promise is broken.
Tell everyone that we can always agree to try to do things, without promising to. We need to be honest with the person (and ourselves) about what we can do, what we might be able to do, and what we can't or don't want to do.
Explain that if we do make a promise, we always need to try to do it. We might tell someone else about it to help us feel more responsible or accountable.
Explain that as Scouts, we need to be caring, respectful, honest, trustworthy and loyal, so should always try to carry out our promises - or tell the person if you can no longer make the promise, such as if you run out of time.

Fixing a broken promise

Ask everyone what we should do if we break a promise.
Explain we should always say sorry and try to make it better, such as taking the time to reflect on the broken promise or working with the person to come up with a solution to fix the broken promise.
If someone breaks a promise to us, we can also be kind and forgive them. We can show understanding, listen to them and why the promise was broken, and come up with a solution together.
Even if we do break a promise, we can still show our Scout values of integrity, respect, care and co-operation, by saying sorry and helping the person to fix it. By doing this, we still keep our Scout promise. We just need to always try our best to do the right or good thing.
Explain that we also should never promise to keep things secret with anyone. We may need to tell a trusted adult what someone said, such as if someone's being bullied or is upset, to make sure everyone can get any help they need and feel happier. If we have promised to keep something, like someone being bullied, a secret and break this promise by telling a trusted adult, that's OK. We can break these kinds of promises and we wouldn't get in trouble for doing so.

Reflection

What did you learn from this story? In the discussion, which of the questions was the hardest to answer?

In this activity, we thought about promises, and how they help us be responsible and independent. However, we might not all have a genie to help us!

How important are promises in your life? How do you live your Scout promise inside and outside of Scouts?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.