Each developmental set of affirmations was field-tested by people who were specialists working with that developmental stage. They included parents, teachers, nurses, social workers, clergy, coaches and therapists.

You can learn what is pretend and what is real.
Identity and Power — Stage 4

*

DIGGING DEEPER: learn more about the who and the how of the testers.

Early education teachers interviewed and observed the behavioral responses of pregnant women who used the Becoming (pre-birth) messages. Becky Kejander (nurse) and Kath Hammerseng (childcare teacher) collected data from colleagues who had infants and toddlers and were using messages from the following stages: Becoming (fetus); Being (Stage 1: 0 to 6 months); Doing (Stage 2: 6 to 18 months); Thinking (Stage 3: 18 months to 3 years). Carole Gesme and Karen Zimmerman (parent educators) worked primarily with toddlers and preschool children and used messages from Power and Identity, (Stage 4). For the rest of the stages — Structure (Stage 5), and Identity, Sexuality and Separation (Stage 6), plus the End of Life stage, the testers (teachers and developmentalists) added interviews and conversations to their observations.

The testing of young adults used an interview format that included guesses about the future. “What will your life be like 5, 10, 15, 25, 55 years from now if you live by these affirmations? And if you don’t?”