Note to parents: These weekly stories are intended to be an additional resource as we work together to support the development of your child. These stories will align with the “theme of the week” for our upcoming class. In Week 7, our theme will be “Habits rhymes with rabbits. Rabbits are cute and habits are important”. The purpose of this theme is to help children understand the importance of habits and how they can begin to start forming meaningful habits. 

 

How to use these stories: When your child joined Legacy Kids, they were given a “stuffy”. These weekly stories will feature their “stuffy”. Encourage your child to have their stuffy with them while you read the story together and discuss the questions below. This process of externalizing the story to someone else (their stuffy) can be helpful as they internalize the principles discussed. Whenever you see "[stuffy]" in the story simply insert the name of your child's stuffy.

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Week 7 Story:

[Stuffy] Learns About Habits

 

Once upon a time there was a stuffy named [Stuffy]. 

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[Stuffy] was feeling annoyed. Today was the day for chores at [his/her] family's house and one of the chores everyone had was to tidy up their bedroom. This felt like such a BIG chore to [Stuffy]. The reason this felt like such a big chore was because [Stuffy] maybe had the messiest room in the whole wide world. 

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[Stuffy] stood in the middle of [his/her] bedroom and surveyed the scene. It certainly was a mess. Not a single toy was put away. All of [Stuffy's] clothes were mixed up so [he/she] didn't know what was clean and what was dirty. An old banana peel was sitting on the night stand and candy wrappers were spread throughout the room. [Stuffy] noticed that [he/she] couldn't even see the floor and had forgotten what the floor looked like. And perhaps the most confusing thing to [Stuffy's] parents were the footprints on the window.  

 

"Look at all of this!", [Stuffy] said in a huffy voice, "how am I supposed to clean all this stuff!? This isn't fair!".

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[Stuffy's] Mom heard the shouting and came down the hall, "Hi [Stuffy], is everything alright?".

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"No!", [Stuffy] replied, "It's not fair. Why do I have to clean up all of this stuff!?". 

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"It sounds like you are not at all excited to clean up your room," [Stuffy's] Mom replied, "but our family has agreed that one of our rules would be to clean up after ourselves". 

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"I know," [Stuffy] replied, knowing that his Mom was right, "but it is such a big job. It is going to take forever!". 

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"It will take a long time", agreed [Stuffy's] Mom, "Do you think it would be possible to keep this room from becoming such a big job?". 

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[Stuffy] thought about it, "Maybe, but how?".

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[Stuffy's] Mom smiled and said, "If we practiced tidying up every time an activity was done, that would keep the room from becoming a big job. This could be a great time to learn how to build a habit!"

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"Habit?", [Stuffy] said in a confused voice, "what is a habit? Is that like a strange kind of rabbit?".

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[Stuffy's] Mom laughed, "No, a habit is something that we do every day without someone having to ask us or tell us to do it. You actually already have some really good habits".  

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"Really, like what?", [Stuffy] asked.

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"You have a habit of saying "thank you" whenever someone does something nice for you. You also do a great job of brushing your teeth without needing to be reminded. You are also really good at remembering to wash your hands after you use the bathroom and before we eat a meal. Did you notice that you were really good at doing those things?".

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"Not really," [Stuffy] said, "I guess I kind of just do those things".

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"That's right!", [Stuffy's] Mom said, "you got so good at doing those things they became your habits. So I think if you wanted to keep your room from becoming a big mess, you could build a new habit of tidying up after an activity is done. Does that sound like something you would be willing to try?".

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"Sure", [Stuffy] replied, "but how do I do it?".

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[Stuffy's] Mom thought about it, "When you are building a habit, just remember these three things:

1. Make sure it's something you want as a habit.

2. Make it something you can do every day.

3. Make sure what you are going to do is easy to understand.

So [Stuffy], the first thing is to make sure the habit is something we really want. Why would you want a clean room?"

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[Stuffy] thought, "I would love for my room to not become such a big job! I think it would also be good if I could see my floor."

 

[Stuffy] and [his/her] Mom chuckled and then [his/her] Mom asked, "Haven't you also noticed that your room is more fun to play in when it is tidy?". 

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"Oh yes," [Stuffy] replied, "when it is tidy I can actually find the toys I want to play with and I have room to play with them".

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"Great!", [Stuffy's] Mom replied, "it sounds like this is something that you want enough that you could build it into a habit. Now for the second thing to remember, do you think this is something that would be possible to do every day".

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"I think so," [Stuffy] replied, "I've noticed that tidying up after an activity is done usually only takes a couple of minutes". 

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"I think you're right", [Stuffy's] Mom replied, "Now for the last thing we need to remember: how can we make sure your habit is easy to understand so you don't get confused about what you are trying to do?".

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"I know!," [Stuffy] said in an excited voice, "I can use my chalk board to remind me. I will write, 'I will tidy up my activity before starting a new one'". 

 

"That's a great idea!", [Stuffy's] Mom replied, "I know you can do it and that you are going to have so much more fun in your room. Would you like some help cleaning this room to get you started?". 

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"Sure! Thanks Mom!", [Stuffy] said. 

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[Stuffy's] Mom smiled and said, "Okay, how about we start with those footprints on the window".

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And that's the end of the story.

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