“Mommy, tell me a story…the kind from out of your head.”
This was an oft-heard request from my son, Jimmy. Not that he didn’t enjoy curling up on my lap to be read to, as well. There was just something about tailor-made parents' stories that was always just right for the problems or fears that took place in his life.
These stories weren’t just out of my head; they were family ideas that came from my heart.
It all started when Jimmy was 2 and had trouble taking no for an answer—one of the most frequent of parents' problems at this age. The tantrums and whining were almost too much to bear at times. I thought to myself, “There has got to be a better way to get through to him than lecturing and becoming impatient myself.”
Late one evening, out of sheer frustration, I invented, “The Life and Times of Chippy the Chipmunk.” Chippy was just a few years older than Jimmy, and he lived in an apple tree outside our home. His trials and tribulations were almost exactly the same as Jimmy’s.
For example, one day Jimmy had a meltdown, to put it mildly, because I would not open up a bag of chocolate chips for him to eat. He howled and screamed for what seemed like hours, and didn’t give up. Eventually he calmed down and we moved on with our day.
That night at bedtime, I told this story:
One day, Chippy was very, very angry. He was so angry that he kicked and screamed and ran away from his mom.
He yelled, “I don’t love you any more,” even though he and his mom both knew it wasn’t true. On that day, Chippy’s mom had found the best looking acorn in town. Chippy couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into it. He begged and pleaded for his mom to give him “just one little bite,” but she said, “No.”
Every time his mom said, “No,” Chippy screamed louder and louder. At bedtime, his mom tucked him in and told him she loved him, even if he was still angry with her. She explained that people get angry all the time — and we can still love someone even if we’re angry with them.
The next morning, Chippy discovered his mom had baked his favorite acorn cake for the whole family. Of course, she used the acorn Chippy begged to have a bite of the day before. His mother told him that even though we can’t always have our way, sometimes things work out for the best.
Chippy felt upset about the mean things he said to his mom. He told her he was sorry and gave her a big hug. As the sun rose over the treetops, Chippy’s mom said, “The best thing about the sunrise is that a whole new day is beginning and you get another chance to start over.”
Jimmy’s tantrums and whining are now a distant memory. (His sister has taken up where he left off.)
His requests for stories about Chippy still surface, though. Chippy has been with us through many of life’s ups and downs. He’s seen us through the arrival of two siblings, surgery, hurt feelings, nighttime fears, starting kindergarten, and even a bomb scare at Jimmy’s school.
Chippy has been a tried-and-true friend who has weathered these storms and has come out better on the other side. Just the other day, I heard Jimmy tell his 3-year-old sister, “That happened to Chippy, too. Do you know what he did about it….?”
I think Chippy is here to stay.
Wendy Young is the mother of three children and a certified School Social Worker for the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District.