YAISHWARYAJ: {Awareness} The gift of the sun - Why is Mommy sad [2 Attachments]

______________________________________

Pedagogical Project

"The Joy of Reading"

______________________________________

Dear Readers,

We would like to invite you to take part in a new project called "From Stories to Books".

The Stories for Everyone Team have been, for some time, gathering and selecting books that provide some sort of reflection on the fundamental ethical principles of our society, such as solidarity, courage, honesty, respect for differences and a sense of justice, matters that have deserved the attention of writers from various nationalities.

Therefore, the Stories for Everyone Team proposes to send, together with the usual weekly stories, and also free of charge, full texts of selected books.

In case you are interested in receiving each week, by email, a chapter of an extensive reading book, all you have to do is answer this message by writing the following sentence in the subject field:

"Yes, I am interested in participating in the project From Stories to Books."

Hoping that this new proposal will meet your utmost interest, we look forward to your reply.

The Stories for Everyone Team

______________________________________

Dear Reader,

In order to reach a wider audience, the Stories for Everyone Team is now sending, along with the weekly story, another one, shorter and more suitable for early ages, so that younger children can also benefit from beautiful stories that will help them dream.

So you will receive not one but two stories every week.

We hope that our initiative will be useful for all that are in touch with children.

Best regards

Stories for Everyone Team

______________________________________

This week's stories with PDF attachments:

- The gift of the sun

- Why is Mommy sad?

__________________________________________

The gift of the sun
a tale from South Africa

Thulani loved to bask all day in the sun. Every afternoon when the sun began to sink, he stood up, straightened his stiff back and went to milk the cow.

One day, as he was milking, Thulani said, "I am tired of all this milking. I will sell the cow and buy a goat."

Early next morning, Thulani left the house with his cow and returned at midday, led by a grizzly old billy-goat.

"Oh Thulani!" sighed Dora, his wife. "You've sold the cow and now we'll have no milk! What good is this goat to us?"

"Goats can look after themselves, Dora," said Thulani.

Dora turned away and went to pick bananas.

Thulani went back to his life in the sun – until one day the goat strayed into the house and ate their store of dried corn.

"Wake up, Thulani!" shouted Dora. "That nuisance goat has eaten all our seed. It will have to go!"

Thulani felt sad. But that night he had an idea. "I will sell the goat and buy a sheep," he thought.

The next morning, while the dew was still on the ground, Thulani left the house with the old billy-goat. He came back that evening, just as the horns of the crescent moon were rising through the wood-smoke.

"Where have you been?" cried Dora.

"To the store," said Thulani. "I've bought you a sheep. She won't be any trouble."

Dora shrugged her shoulders. "At least we'll be able to sell her fleece in the spring," she said.

All winter long, Thulani sat about, looking after the sheep. He missed being able to sleep in the sun.

When the first leaves appeared on the trees, Dora said: "That sheep looks shaggy. It's time to shear her."

Thulani brought out the shears and started to clip the sheep. But as he was shearing, he thought, "This work is too much for me, I will sell the fleece and the sheep."

The next day, Thulani left the house with the sheep and the shaggy fleece. He sold them at the store, and bought three geese with the money.

"Dora will be pleased," Thulani thought, as he drove the geese home. "Geese eat anything."

But when Dora saw them, she said, "Thulani, we need seed, not geese. It is spring and time to plant our crops. Don't you remember –that nuisance goat ate all our seed?"

So next morning, poor Thulani left the house with the three geese, went back to the store, and exchanged them for some seed.

All the way home, the seeds jumped around in Thulani's pocket. "At last," he thought, "Dora will be pleased with me."

He looked at the ground that Dora had prepared. "I'll do the planting," he said. "I'll start today."

And as he sowed the seed, he looked up and saw the first swallows flitting overhead. Summer was coming. He could bask in the sun once more!

Soon the first green shoots broke through the cloddy soil. Dora weeded the field and imagined the wonderful crop they would have.

But when the leaves unfurled she came running, and cried, "Thulani, come and look! You have planted a field of sunflowers. What good are they to us? All they do is follow the sun from morning to night – just like you."

Thulani felt sad. All he wanted was to please Dora.

As the weeks passed, Thulani noticed that the sunflower heads were flopping and dropping their seeds on to the ground. There were so many seeds, he collected them in a bag and fed them to the hens.

Not long after, Dora went to collect the eggs and found two more than usual. The next day there were three more, and the following day there were eggs everywhere!

"Thulani," said Dora excitedly, "these hens are laying more eggs than ever before. They must like the sunflower seed. Now we shall have extra eggs to sell."

At last Thulani had done something right! He rushed out with the eggs, sold them at the store and bought a sheep. Late in the season, the sheep had twin lambs.

"I'm going to sell the sheep and keep the lambs," said Thulani. Dora smiled.

When Thulani sold the sheep and proudly brought home a cow, Dora was delighted.

"Oh Thulani! It will be good to have milk again."

Soon, Thulani became so busy trading animals, he no longer had time to sit about in the sun. Life was too exciting!

But he always found time to sit down and milk the cow.

"You know Dora, my best thoughts come to me when I'm milking," said Thulani – and they both burst out laughing, as the sun went down over the hill.

Dianne Stewart

The gift of the sun: a tale from South Africa

London, Frances Lincoln, 1996

___________________________________________

Why is Mommy sad?

My Mom used to smile more. Now she has sad days. She said she has Depression.

Depression is an illness that makes a person sad. People who are depressed have days when they feel very sad. They have days when they feel better. On sad days they might not smile much or they might cry. Depression is a problem with feelings.

I asked my Mom if we could go to the park. She said she was tired.

Depression often causes tiredness. Your parent might not have the energy to do things that she used to be able to do.

I asked my Mom if we could make cookies. She said she had to rest.

Sometimes people with depression don't feel like doing fun things.

My mom yells at me sometimes.

Sometimes people with depression get mad more easily. They might lose their temper or yell or get mad.

She goes in her room and shuts the door.

Some people with depression need to be left alone for a while.

Sometimes she sleeps when I want to play.

People with depression sometimes need to take naps to feel better. People with depression often need to sleep more. Some depressed parents may not be able to get to sleep.

I miss going places with my mom. I wish she would spend more time with me.

Depression often makes people not want to do things they used to enjoy doing because they feel sad. Parents don't feel sad on purpose. They don't like to feel sad.

My Mom has depression.

She said it's like when I once got sick. I had a runny nose.

Depression is an illness — just like having a cold. It is no one's fault that she has depression. You can't catch depression from being around someone who is depressed.

When I was sick with a cold, I took medicine. It made me feel better. My Mom takes medicine for depression.

People with depression often take pills to help them feel better. It takes a long time for the medicine to work. Sometimes the medicine helps them feel a little bit better. Sometimes the medicine helps them feel a lot better.

I drew a picture of me and my Mom.

My Mom smiled. I gave my Mom a hug.

Little things go a long way for a mom or dad with depression. It's not your job to make your mom or dad feel better. Kids can't do anything to cause depression. Your parent still loves you and you still love your parent.

Paul Chan

Why is Mommy sad?

Laguna Hills, CCS Publishing

__________________________________________

You can visit us on Facebook where you can find more interesting stories about several different topics.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stories-for-Everyone/125862557478585

______________________________________

Sir/Madam,

We are a group of people with some experience in the area of storytelling and we would like to share our project – The Joy of Reading – with everyone who is in touch with children and young people in general but above all with everyone that enjoys reading.

This project consists of sending stories for free on a weekly basis. So this particular e-mail and the ones that will follow it in the next weeks are intended to share some small stories with you. All the stories we send have some values within: respect for nature, tolerance, tenderness, responsibility, solidarity and many more. They all aim at developing the reading skills among young people, as well as allowing some moments of reflection and dialogue about topics connected with human values, which seem to have been somewhat forgotten in these times of materialism and hedonism.

We thank you for your attention and hope you will welcome this project (which, it is important to say, does not have any profitable aims).

If you know anyone interested in receiving the weekly stories by email, let us know by sending their emails to us.

Please let us know your opinion about the project.

Yours faithfully

The Pedagogical Team

sg@storiesforeveryone.com

stories4ev@gmail.com