Raquel Lemos Rodriguez shares in , a great metaphor to help children increase self-control:
Manolita is a little turtle who is always in trouble. When an exercise doesn’t go well and he gets angry. The same thing happens when the teacher calls him out for talking in class or if, at recess, a classmate pushes him, he ends up kicking him. For all this, Manolita is usually grounded or alone, since no friend wants to play with her.
All this made Manolita feel very sad., although he couldn’t help the anger he felt in those situations. One day when he returned from school he met a very old and wise turtle who told him:
-Manolita, Don’t you realize that the solution to all your problems is found in your shell? When you encounter a situation that you don’t know how to deal with, get into your shell and count to 10.
The little turtle Manolita decided to put this into practice. When, at recess, a friend accidentally kicked him while playing soccer She went into her shell, counted to 10, and when she came out, she wasn’t so angry! So, he continued playing and having fun until recess was over. This strategy helped him. Everything got better…
Her classmates no longer left her aside, the teacher no longer punished her and she felt much better, more content and happy. So Manolita continued to use this strategy that that older turtle, one day, gave him. It worked!
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