This story was contributed by Dorian Lopez, loving mother to the incredibly adorable young man below. They are early readers of The Elle Grey Story, WORDS. Here is the story of what her and her son experienced after reading it!
Have you ever wondered, "When will my child ever start sharing?" I've been asking myself this question for quite some time now, and to be honest, I was beginning to think it would never happen. No matter how many different methods we've tried with our four year old, nothing seemed to work!
I know age plays a factor because he does very well with other children his age, however, the one he seems to have the hardest time sharing with is his two year old cousin. My son is tremendously kind, up until it's time to share one of his toys with him. He then becomes a little hulk that seems to only be able to say, "This is mine! Go away!" or something along those lines. Do you remember how I thought he would never learn to share?
Well, he hasn't mastered the art of sharing just yet, but it definitely has been improving ever since we started reading one of the most heartfelt children's stories out there. We started reading The Elle Grey Story, WORDS on a Friday night right before bedtime. My son and I both genuinely fell in love with the message and the story itself. He listened without interrupting and I could tell he was understanding the message and could relate to the story. We discussed the book and I once again reminded him that words can be hurtful and that we should choose kind words when we talk to other people and ourselves.
The next morning, we met my sister for brunch and while we were waiting to be seated my nephew began to cry wanting the toy my son had. I explained to my nephew (like I always do) that he could take a turn once his cousin was done playing with it. He's two years old, so the crying continued. To my surprise my little guy stood up, went up to his younger cousin, hugged him and in a chocked voice told him to not cry anymore and handed over his toy. I was in shock, to say the least. I was speechless, so I just watched. After we were seated, I realized that my son had just shared one of his favorite toys without me telling him to do so. After I told him how proud of him I was, I asked him what had made him want to do something so hard as sharing his favorite toy. His simple response was, " I don't want to make people sad. I want to be just like Patty Panda in WORDS. I'm sorry for not sharing before, mommy!" And at that moment my heart sank. I knew that had been hard for him, but I was so glad he did it.
We've been reading WORDS every morning and night before bedtime and he's doing so much better with sharing and using nicer words. I'm so happy a children's book was able to help him understand, not just the importance of sharing, but also taught him how words can be very hurtful and to be kind, not just to others, but also to ourselves. This book is a new favorite in our house!
Thank you so much Elle, for a beautifully written and illustrated children's book with a very important message!
Dorian L.
Dorian is an Instagram friend of @ellegreystories. You can find her @dori_fer