Week 10 Story: How I Saved Myself from Boredom
I can think of a time when I was much younger and always getting into trouble. When these moments would arise I would be sent to my room to think about my actions and to take some time to cool off. My mom always thought that was a good option because who in their right minds would want to sit in a room and stare at the wall. But she forgot about one small thing that would change my timeout life.
There was a time in my life where my sister and I were like mortal enemies. To be fair there are times when we still act that way, but trust me we have gotten much better. However, this particular incident in my life happened when I was very young, still sassy and full of life. I was being rude to my sister so much so that she started to cry. I tried to hush her, but it was not much longer until my mother came out and asked what was happening. She learned that I was to blame and gave me two options, a spanking or my room. While a spanking sounded bad, it would be over in seconds. A 20 minute timeout in my room sounded like a lifetime. I thought for a moment before making my decision. I told her that I would go to my room if she would tell me when time was up for me in my confinement. Little did she know of all my toys and games I had in the room. How kind of her to make me have a mandatory playtime, where I didn't have to share anything at all! From then on they only punishment I wanted was timeout. It makes me wonder if my mom ever got suspicious or wondered if I was actually bored out of my mind in there.
Author's Note: This story is my take on the "How the Turtle Saved His Own Life'. While I was not in immediate danger I drew from his cunningness to get out of a sticky situation, saving my butt from a spanking and a painfully boring time in a sense. In the original story the turtle scares some kids and their father orders the men to find the "demon" (turtle) and bring him inside so they can deal with the matter. They begin listing ways to kill the turtle and suddenly a man mentions throwing it in the lake because he himself was scared of water. The turtle heard this and to save his life acted as if being thrown in water was the worst thing they could do for him, and just like that they threw him in and he was safe.
Author: Ellen C. Babbitt
Illustrator: Ellsworth Young
Year: 1912
Hey Keana!
ReplyDeleteYou took an interesting spin on the "How the Turtle Save His Own Life" story, but I can definitely see the connections. I think you did a good job at telling it in a new way while keeping the spirit of the original. It is a fun story in any case, though my mom definitely would have made sure I wasn't playing around with something else.