Edward the giraffe (Fafa in the Arabic version) can’t understand why his neck is as long and bendy and, well, ridiculous as it is. No other animal has a neck this absurd. He’s tried disguising it, dressing it up, strategically hiding it behind bushes — honestly, anything you can think of, he’s tried.
Just when he has exhausted his neck-hiding options, a turtle helps him understand that his neck has a purpose, and looks excellent in a bow tie.
“I can… I can’t” is a phrase we hear a lot from our young children who are busy exploring their capabilities and what they can do all the time, and they do so by comparing themselves to other children, and sometimes this happens due to the influence of adults who reinforce that comparison.
Read MoreDear Parents,
Each child has unique characteristics, abilities, and developmental processes. There are children, like Edward the giraffe, who only see “the problem” in themselves, which prevents them from seeing other special qualities and abilities that they have. Like Edward, who is always grumpy and angry, these kids feel frustrated and helpless, until a “turtle” comes and helps them see what they consider to be their deficiency from an entirely different viewpoint.
As parents, we have a great role in supporting our child to see themselves in a positive rather than a negative perspective, when we invite them to contemplate what they can do instead of what they cannot do, and to see what their physical characteristics allow them to do instead of what these features prevent them from doing.
