The other day, my teens were having a dispute. Unkind words were being thrown back and forth like ping pong balls. My otherwise amiable children were not being so amiable.
I was not happy.
I decided it was time to enlighten them on the importance of thinking before speaking, a valuable asset in the adult world.
I remembered seeing posters and images on the internet which said, “Before you speak: THINK.” THINK is an acronym for “Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind?” That was just what I needed so I got to work to make my own poster for our homeschool room.
I opened up InDesign. I chose a cat font since my daughters love cats. I used it for the word, “THINK” and selected a different font for the rest of the poster. I laid out all of the text in various text boxes. When I finished, I printed it off and hung it up in plain view.
My daughters got the point.
The unpleasant word usage has been reduced. If it starts to rear its ugly head again, I just point to the poster.
Thank you, internet.
I thought that you might also like to have a THINK poster, so I created some free printables using a variety of fonts. (I love fonts!) Here they are.
UPDATE: Some of the fonts in these posters weren’t working so I made improvements using fonts that DO work. I also added a new Cheese and Mouse Poster for you to use. Enjoy!
Many thanks to Kimberly Geswein, Cara Carroll, and Jen Jones for your wonderful fonts.
Before You Speak: THINK – Free Printables
Cats Poster
Here is the cat poster we have hanging up in our school room.
Click here to get the Cats Poster free printable
Cheese and Mouse Poster
Click here to get the Cheese and Mouse Poster free printable
Hearts Poster
Click here to get the Hearts Poster free printable
Flowers Poster
Click here to get the Flowers Poster free printable
Sunrise Poster
Click here to get the Sunrise Poster free printable
Country Button Poster
Click here to get the Country Button Poster free printable
Block Poster
Click here to get the Block Poster free printable
Block Letters Poster
Click here to get the Block Letters Poster
Patchwork Angels Poster
Click here to get the Patchwork Angels Poster free printable
I hope these posters help your kids to think a little before they speak. ๐
I have MORE printable posters here that you might like.
Ticia says
These are super cute!
Carla says
These. Are. Awesome. Even as adults, this is a great reminder. What is true is not always necessary! Thank you so much for linking up at Teach Me Tuesday!
Rebekah says
I love that you have so many options. I was planning to have my kids decorate these as part of a character exercise this week, but when I open the .pdf, they don’t look the same as the image. On some of them, the border line shows up as letters instead of the decorative border, etc. The one I was wanting to use was the one with the block letters, but the .pdf came up with line letters instead. ๐
Susan Brown says
I see what you mean. I’m not sure why that is happening. It didn’t happen before. I’ll look into it to see if I can fix it. Thanks for letting me know.
Susan Brown says
Everything has been fixed and a new poster added. In some cases, fonts had to be replaced so I used some new and improved fonts that I recently purchased. Thanks for your patience! ๐
Anonymous says
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thank you! Each family member gets a different poster! LOVE IT!
Susan Brown says
Glad you like them!
Erika Pereznegron says
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing resources. Just what I need for my teachers’ classrooms.
November is Kindness month at my school. This is perfect.
Blessings!
Susan Brown says
Glad you like them!
Sue-Ann says
Thank you!!! Just the resource I needed today for a group of 4 grumpy birds with hurt feelings because they did not use this strategy!
Susan Brown says
You’re welcome! I hope it helped you and your grumpy birds.