Stay Home Superheroes! Two stories to enjoy together with your children
Todays episode features not one, but TWO therapeutic stories for children to help manage anxiety during the pandemic. Get cosy with your children and listen to these stories together. You’ll also hear from Callum, our special guest, who tells us what he thinks of the story!
Sophia
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiagiblin
A creative
entrepreneur who focuses on ways to tackle the root of children’s mental health
through play and secure relationships. Due to her own challenging experiences
in childhood, Sophia went on to establish a thriving Play & Creative Arts
Therapy charity to support other children who have experienced trauma. Her
focus is on helping therapists, businesses and charities have more of an impact
for children and families that they work with through coaching, strategy,
fundraising and mentoring.
Nicole
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcdonnellnicole/
Nicole is a mum to
two young boys, who also has over 20 years of brand marketing experience. She
is a previous Chair Trustee at Clear Sky Charity and has past experience on the
Ella’s Kitchen board. Her roles have
included Marketing Director, Head of Ella’s-ness, Global Brand Director with
responsibility of creating and building one brand inside and out – including the
wellbeing and culture of the team. Nicole
was instrumental in growing Ella’s into a multi-million pound international
business, driven by the mission of creating healthy children.
About Treasure
Time
Our vision is to
drive connected, happy parent-child relationships, for the benefit of the whole
family. Our mission and passion is to educate parents in how to become happy,
mindful and confident in connecting with their own children through play.
Resources
Treasure Time Parents Facebook Group
Sophie’s Stories – therapeutic stories for children
Value bombs and
tweetables:
1. “You have the
superpower power to make this fun! Staying home is how you can save the whole
world, there’s nothing more powerful than that” Sophia, reading Stay Home Superhero
2. “ William the Stay
Home Superhero loved his invisible force field. And now you know, you can go
outside and use yours too.” Sophia, reading Stay Home Superhero
3. “Good luck at
being a stay home superhero!” Callum, Nicole’s son
Transcript
Sophia
Hey, it’s Sophia, and Nicole. Welcome to the Treasure Time
podcast growing up happy. For today’s episode, we thought we would do something
a little bit different for you. We’ve been talking a lot about treasure time
principles, but we thought, why not do a little session here on the podcast for
yourself and for your child, so that you can come together and listen to a
story. We actually have two stories for you and your child, so to listen to
together, which will help manage children’s anxiety during the pandemic. These
stories are called “the stay home superheroes” and they’re written by Sophies Stories.
Sophie is a play therapist and what she does is she writes what are known as
therapeutic stories for children. therapeutic stories are stories that use
metaphor to help tap into feelings that children are experiencing and give them
new ways to think and cope with challenges.
Nicole
For this episode, we have a special guest. I actually
listened to the “stay at home super Heroes” with my boys and we got some of
their feedback on what they think of the story too. So we really hope you enjoy
this with your little ones and cuddle up together on the sofa, in their bed,
wherever you feel most comforting ,cosy and close together. Or maybe it’s
sitting on a picnic blanket out in the sunshine. If we’ve still got sunshine by
the time you listen to this, so do whatever feels most comfortable. If it’s
raining outside, maybe you’ve already made that den from an earlier podcast, so
get inside together and enjoy storytime.
Sophia
The Stay Home superheroes. Once upon a time, there was a big
busy world. In this big busy world there lived a little boy called William.
William loved going to school to play with his friends, going to the park with
his mum, and going swimming with his dad. But one day everything started to
change, William heard on the news that there was a big problem. This problem
was so big that it started to spread over the whole world. All the grown ups were
talking about it, or the children were talking about it. In fact, every single
person in the whole world was talking about it. Everyone started to feel
worried and scared about the big problem. Soon, the big problem caused some big
changes. At first daddy stop going to work. Then mummy stopped taking him
swimming. Then he found out school was cancelled. And day by day, the loud busy
world he lived in got quieter, and quieter and quieter. William was confused.
He felt scared too, he had so many questions. What was going on? Would it be
okay, how could they stop the big problem? He went on to ask his mummy all of
his big questions. “It’s okay to be scared and worried. Lots of other children
feel that way. even adults feel scared too. Sometimes” she told him giving him
a big hug. But all of the very best cleverest people in the whole world are
working hard to fix the big problem right now, she explained. This made him
feel a little bit better. Surely the cleverest people in the world could find a
way to fix it. But it was such a big problem and he was still scared. He had to
do something. Mummy explained that there were lots and lots of special helpers
working hard to save the world and stop the problem. Like superheroes, said
William. Just like superheroes said mummy smiling. William wanted to be a
superhero too, this was his chance, super William to the rescue! He jumped up
ready to run outside and join all the other superheroes to fight off the big
problem and save the world. But his mummy stopped him and locked the door. “Hey,
how can I help fight the big problem if I’m stuck inside?” he asked. “Well, we
do need you to help, everyone is going to have to help solve this big problem,
and you are going to have a very special job indeed. You are going to become a
stay Home superhero”. William had never heard of that kind of superhero before.
Mummy told him that stay home superheroes can help fight off the big problem
using this stay home superpowers. But what were they? He tried so hard, but he
didn’t have any super strength or superspeed either. In fact, he felt exactly
the same as before.
“The big problem can’t be solved with super strength or
super speed. The big problem will only stop growing if all the new superheroes
use their stay home superpower to stay at home. In fact, if all the new stay
home superheroes work together, the big problem will get smaller and smaller
and smaller every single day until it goes away” Mummy explained. “But staying
home is a boring superpower” said William in a grump. “Boring? No way! You have
the superpower to make this fun, and staying home is how you can help save the
whole world. There’s nothing more powerful than that.” Just staying home and
having fun could save the whole world and he would be a real life superhero? William
started to feel excited. He started to feel powerful too. He couldn’t wait to
tell all his friends that they could turn into stay home superheroes just like
him. William got to work quickly using his superhero creativity to think of all
the fun things he could do at home. He made a long list with his mummy and
daddy. Pillow forts and cooking, and games and dancing, and puppet shows and
singing, and movies and more. Even better, William found out he could still
play in the garden and go outside too. As long as he stayed away from all the
superheroes who lived in different houses. They could wave to each other and
wink, because they all knew the special job they were doing. William did miss
playing with his friends and going swimming and to the park. But then he remembered
how important his new superhero job was. He was helping to save the whole world
and that made him feel so good inside. He was very proud of himself. Then he
fired up his superhero powers ready to find something fun to do. William the
stay home superhero and all his superhero friends work hard together to help
save the world, all without leaving their homes. And now you know, you can be a
superhero too.
The stay home superheroes go outside. Once upon a time,
there was a little boy called William. William had a very important new job. He
was a stay home superhero. Ever since he found out about his new job he wanted
to do everything that he could to save the world and make sure everyone stayed
safe. He took being a stay home superhero very, very seriously. In fact,
William took his new stay home superhero job so seriously that he stopped going
outside at all. William closed all the doors and all the windows and decided he
would stay safe at home until this was all over. He thought that he was the very
best superhero. He thought that was the very best superhero thing he could do. “William,
let’s go out for a walk” said mommy. “No, we have to stay home!” replied William.
“Let’s go for a bike ride” said his sister. “No, we have to stay home!” he said
stamping his foot. “Hey, William, shall we go to the shops? We could get your favourite
sweets?” said daddy. “No, we have to stay home!” he shouted back. William was
determined to stay home and save the world. As the days went by, he felt less
and less like a superhero. He felt worried and tired and grumpy. Every time
someone wanted him to go out for a walk, or open a window or go to the shops,
his heart would beat really fast, and his tummy felt funny. He was feeling
worried. This worry grew and grew and grew until it was so big that he couldn’t
even think about going outside without feeling scared. What if it made the big
problem get even bigger? One day William saw his dad putting on his shoes by
the front door. “Daddy, are you going outside? Isn’t it dangerous out there?
Don’t we have to stay home?” he asked. “Oh, William. I know it’s confusing. We
do need to stay home most of the time, but even stay home superheroes need
fresh air and sunshine and good food from the shops to keep their superpower
strong. Going outside is one way to help us charge up our superpowers” Daddy
explained. “It doesn’t going outside make the big problem get bigger?” he asked.
“Well, that’s what our superhero force fields are for” said Daddy with a wink.
“Superhero forcefields?” “ Yes, all the stay home superheroes have got special
invisible force fields to keep them safe when they need to go outside. That’s
why we can’t get too close to other people from different superhero houses. If
we all stay in our own forcefield everyone stays safe and the problem can’t
grow any bigger.” William thought about this. He imagined his own forcefield
like a big bubble all around his body keeping him safe. You couldn’t see it but
was sure he could feel it. William decided to be brave and try going outside
with his big protective forcefield all around him. So William and his family
put on their shoes and coats ready to Go outside. William was nervous but he
was excited too. William loved being outside in the sunshine seeing the trees and
feeling the wind on his face, he had missed being outside. When he saw the
other stay home superheroes they smiled and waved to each other, staying safe
inside their own forcefields. He could feel his superpowers getting stronger as
he breathed in the lovely fresh air and exercised his superhero legs. You could
run and jump and hop and skip, and it felt great. William still stayed inside
most of the time. But now he understood how everyone could stay safe when they
left their homes. He knew that going outside with keep his superpowers charged
up and that was very important. William the stay home superhero loved his
invisible force field. And now you know, you can go outside and use yours too.
Nicole
Well, that was a great story to children, did you enjoy listening
to the stay at home superheroes?
Callum
Yeah.
Nicole
Are you a Stay Home Superhero, Callum?
Callum
Yes,
Nicole
Yes you are aren’t you? You’ve been doing it for five weeks
now and you’ve been doing a really good job of managing to do everything we
need to save the world by staying at home. Really proud of you. So who is who
is helping you? Is Harrison also a stay at home superhero with you, Callum?
Callum
Yes. And I’ll show you who Cute is.
Nicole
Who’s Cute?
Callum
He is a Labrador. And he’s a puppy. He’s a teddy. He’s got
fluffy ears, and a long tail, and he’s from Hamleys.
Nicole
Oh, I’ve noticed Callum that you’ve been carrying Cute
around the house with you a lot the past couple of weeks. Is he doing a good
job of helping be a Stay Home Superhero?
Callum
Yeah
Nicole
Have you been playing lots of games together?
Callum
Yes.
Nicole
Can you tell all the boys and girls one of the games that
you’ve been playing with Cute?
Callum
Jailbreak/123 and out.
Nicole
Oh, these sound good games.
Callum
Trampolining, swings.
Nicole
You and Cute have been very busy Stay Home Superheroes.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the story.
Callum
Thank you feel for listening, good luck at being a stay at
home superhero.
Nicole
We’re all doing a great job boys and girls. Thank you so
much, Callum. It’s been lovely having you as a guest on the podcast today.
Callum
Bye bye!
Sophia
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this podcast episode something
a little bit different, but also something playful for you to actually do with
the children.
Nicole
Yeah and next time we are going to go back to our principles
of Treasure Time, and we’ll look at two principles together in one episode. So
we’ll cover allowing the children to solve their own problems and also giving
your children enough time to work out things for themselves. So it’s a perfect
time to practice this when we’ve got a little bit more time together at home to
get curious and learn the pace at which our child works.
Sophia
We’d like to say a massive thank you to Sophie Stories for
writing these stories and allowing us to share them if you’re interested she
actually writes therapeutic stories specifically for children. So you can visit
her site Sophie stories dot code at UK for your own personalized story. Thank
you so much for listening. we’d love it if you could head to iTunes and give us
a five star review and some lovely words to help us keep reaching more and more
parents.
Nicole
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this podcast and that you’ll
maybe post a picture this week of your playtime or storytime and tag us at
treasure time UK. And don’t forget to add hashtag treasure time. You’ll be
entered into a draw to win the treasure time course and a year’s worth of
membership to our exclusive Facebook community where you can access lots and
lots of advice and weekly live q&a with Sophia.
Sophia
Thank you and bye from us. We’ll see you in the next
episode.
Nicole
Bye!
Good luck at being a stay home superhero! Callum