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 9, our theme is “What to do about bad days”. The purpose of this theme is to help children know how to react when they are having bad day. 

 

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 9 Story

[Stuffy] Learns What to do About Bad Days

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

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Stuffy was having a bad day! It was one of those days where nothing was going quite right. It all started when [Stuffy] was tying [his/her] shoes and one of laces broke!

 

"Oh no," [Stuffy] thought to [himself/herself], "these are my favorite shoes!".

 

Then at breakfast, [Stuffy's] favorite kind of cereal was all gone so [he/she] had to eat a cereal [he/she] didn't like very much.

 

[Stuffy's] bad luck kept going when [he/she] got to school. 

 

"Okay class, time to turn in your homework!", the teacher called out. 

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But when [Stuffy] opened [his/her] backpack, [he/she] realized that [he/she] had forgotten [his/her] homework at home.

 

"Oh GRRR!", [Stuffy] thought to [himself/herself], "how could I forget my homework?!".

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Later that day, [Stuffy] was looking forward to recess. But when the bell for recess rang, [Stuffy's] teacher gave the class some bad news:

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"Sorry class, it's raining outside so we have to do indoor recess today. Please find something quiet you can do at your desk". 

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"Oh GRRR!", [Stuffy] thought to [himself/herself], "nothing is going right today!". 

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After what felt like forever, the school day was done and it was time to go home. When [Stuffy] got home, [he/she] walked through the front door, dropped [his/her] backpack, and plopped face down into the carpet. In that moment,  [Stuffy] made up a song that went something like this (sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle):

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"Today is a silly day where nothing's going right.

I'd rather be at Disneyland and eating lots of cake". 

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 [Stuffy] heard [his/her] Mom laughing in the other room, "Wow  [Stuffy], I love that song!". 

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[Stuffy] let out a little smile. [He/she] always loved it when [he/she] could make [his/her] Mom laugh.

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[Stuffy's] Mom came into the room and kneeled down next to [Stuffy], "well  [Stuffy], what is making today so silly?".

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 [Stuffy] sighed, "Everything just keeps going wrong. I think I must have really bad luck!".

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"I'm sorry, [Stuffy]," [Stuffy's] Mom replied, "Do you think maybe you were cursed by an angry cow?". 

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[Stuffy] laughed really hard and said, "No Mom, I don't think so!". 

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"Can I teach you a little art project that usually helps me when I feel like I'm having bad luck?",  [Stuffy's] Mom asked.

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 "Sure!", [Stuffy] replied. [Stuffy] always loved art projects.

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Note to parents: To help children understand this activity, it might be helpful to get some paper and markers to illustrate what [Stuffy's] Mom is showing them.

 

[Stuffy's] Mom brought [him/her] a piece of paper and some markers and said, "Okay [Stuffy], the first thing we're going to do is make a big circle".

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[Stuffy] picked [his/her] favorite color and drew a circle on [his/her] paper.

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"Perfect," said [Stuffy's] Mom, "okay, now write the word "fix" inside the circle and "can't fix" outside the circle".

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[Stuffy] wrote down the words but still wasn't sure what this project was going to be.

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"Okay, now can you think of something that went wrong today?", asked [Stuffy's] Mom. 

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"Yes!", [Stuffy] said, "I forgot my homework!". 

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"Okay, good example", replied [Stuffy's] Mom, "now look at your paper and ask yourself: is this something I can fix or something I can't fix?". 

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"Hmm", [Stuffy] thought, "yes, I think I can fix that. My teacher said I can still take that homework tomorrow and then I can just make sure in the future to put my homework in my backpack when it's done". 

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"That's great, [Stuffy]!", [Stuffy's] Mom replied, "so go ahead and write "homework" inside the circle because it is something you can fix". [Stuffy's] Mom continued, "can you think of something else that didn't go right today?". 

 

[Stuffy] thought for a second and said, "Yes! It rained and so I had to do inside recess!".  

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[Stuffy's] Mom replied, "Okay [Stuffy], now is the weather something you can fix or something you can't fix".

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[Stuffy] had to think a little harder about this one, "Hmm," [Stuffy] thought, "no, I don't think the weather is something I can change or fix".

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"That's right, [Stuffy]", said [Stuffy's] Mom, "as much as we might like to, we can't change the weather. Go ahead and write "inside recess" outside of the circle."

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[Stuffy] and [his/her] Mom went through the rest of the things that didn't go well that day until everything was either inside or outside of the circle.

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"Good work, [Stuffy]!", said [Stuffy's] Mom, "Sometimes when we're having a bad day, we can become overwhelmed and feel stuck. But this little activity helps you think of things you can do to make your day a little better and also understand which things you aren't able to change or fix.

 

"So what do I do about the things I can't fix?," asked [Stuffy].

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"That's a great question," [Stuffy's] Mom replied, "that is a good time to talk with me and see if we can think of a solution together. So like today when you found out you were having indoor recess, you weren't able to change the weather but do you think there are things you could have done to still help yourself have a good recess?". 

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"Yeah", replied [Stuffy], "our teacher had lots of puzzles and games that I like. I think I was just so mad about how my day was going I forgot to have fun".

 

"Do you think the next time you're having a bad day you could try this little activity?", [Stuffy's] Mom asked.

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"Absolutely!", [Stuffy] replied. [Stuffy] was already feeling better about today and felt ready to handle bad days in the future. 

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And that's the end of the story.