I’m back with another children´s story, just in time for the Easter Holiday! Before I share my stories, I always like to explain a bit about us for newcomers to these pages. I have a gorgeous ten-year-old boy with an amazing sense of humour, naughty, fun … and with special needs. Routines and structure on a day-to-day basis help us to provide the kind of environment where he thrives. But we cannot always control our surroundings. In our case, an international move and a new language that he could not understand were, unsurprisingly, a recipe for disaster. And here we are, weathering the storm.
When you are feeling frustrated and sad about the loss of everything you’ve had up to that moment, any small incident can be experienced as a big issue. “I hate that things break!” When I hear something like this, I am clear that I have to get down to work. Most likely there is nothing broken so I do not have something specific to fix. The real message is “I am unhappy, I do not know exactly why, and I do not know how to solve it either”. Therefore, how do I fix something when it does not physically exist and therefore has not been broken? Can a children´s story help me at all? In my case, the definite answer is yes.
The Breaking Monster is a story in which a monster that breaks things needs to be defeated. My son is a Spanish speaker, but the Breaking Monster was born in English at his request. In our new life, English was the language we were surrounded by. He probably did not understand half of the story I was telling him but, in order to make sense in his mind, he wanted the stories to be narrated in English. But even with a very beginner´s English level the scene where we defeat the monster, “Oh no, it was a trick, let me out, let me out”, always left him laughing out loud.
(Transcript of the text shown in the pictures below available at the end of the post)
Somebody, Stop the Breaking Monster!
Transcript:
Trapped and bored in the imaginary world the Ugly-Thought Monsters are always ready to try to sneak into the real world. Emma and Victor are the only ones that can send them back. Their mission is difficult. Their mission is secret too.
Emma and Victor are playing a board game. Victor says: “Emma my sixth sense superpower is telling me something weird is going on.”
They go to the kitchen just to find chaos.
They both say: What just happened here? All the plates are broken!
Victor says: “This is just what I feared. I think the Breaking Monster has escaped from the Imaginary World.
Narrator: The Breaking Monster is extremely naughty. He feels compelled to break anything he touches. And he finds himself terribly funny. Rips, tears, patches, and stitches cover his orange body. If he knocks on your door, don’t open it.
Victor says: “We must stop him before he finds our toys”.
Emma answers: “Relax I think I’m coming up with a brilliant idea” Emma speaks loud so that the Breaking Monster can hear what she is saying: “Mummy’s favorite jersey has the biggest hole I’ve ever seen.” The Breaking Monster says excitedly: “That sounds like something worth seeing”
The Monster gets into the wardrobe to look for the sweater and Emma and Victor lock him in.
The Monster says: “ Oh, no! It was a trick! Let me out! One last chance!
Emma replies: “We are sorry Breaking Monster but we must protect our toys”
Victor adds: “ One less monster to worry about”
I hope your children enjoy the story. If so, please, leave me a message. It makes me really happy to read them.
