Short Stories for Kids: The girl with a stutter
It was the first day of her new school and Kiara was nervous. She was anxious thinking about all the things that could or couldn’t happen. She was so lost in her imagination that she didn’t see her mom enter the kitchen or hear her ask if she wanted anything else for breakfast.
Her mom snapped her fingers in front of her and said, “back to the world of living, sweetheart.”
Kiara blinked and looked at her mom but didn’t say anything. After a few minutes, her mom sat in front of her, looked her in the eyes and said, “It will be fine. You will be fine.”
“It’s a pretty big inclusive school and you went with us to familiarize yourself with its ways. And you have our numbers, the school has our numbers. We are just a call away. It will be fine. You will be fine.”
“M..mo…mom, you s…s…sou…sound m..m.m….more ne…ner…nervous.” Kiara stuttered.
“I am not” Her mom denied then said, “May be a little.”
Her mom pushed Kiara’s hair behind her ear and said, “You are stuttering.”
Kiara shrugged and said, “I…it’s a b…b…big d…day.”
“That it is” her mom whispered hugging her while thinking about all the bullying she had to endure at her previous school for her stutter. It was not so bad but all the bullying, the stress it caused worsened her stutter. It made her conscious of her speech.
Shaking away her worrisome thoughts, her mom kissed her forehead and hoped for her to have a good day.
At the school, Kiara avoided making eye contact with everyone and even had lunch by herself. After lunch was over, in her next class, a book was sneakily passed to her. Puzzled, she looked at the girl who then signaled her to look at the back of the book. Kiara flipped the book and a single sentence was written on the last page, “Hi, I am Riya”
Kiara again looked at Riya who beamed a smile at her. Dubious of her intentions, Kiara didn’t smile back. She wondered if she should reply back to the note or not. In the end, she decided to write just ‘hi’ in the book and passed it back to Riya.
After some time, she again received the book and this time, ‘I am drowning. This class is so boring.’ Was written on it. Kiara didn’t look up from the book. Instead she drew a girl sinking with words as water. She passed it back.
Again she received it with ‘interesting perception but something is missing’ written under her drawing. Knitting her brows, Kiara looked at Riya with a questioning look to which Riya shrugged her shoulders. The class ended soon after and Kiara asked, “W…wh…whaa….what i..is m…m…missing?”
Riya looked at her and said, “I don’t know what but it just feels incomplete.”
Kiara hummed and they parted ways for the day. At home, Kiara was still wondering about her drawing when her mom asked, “How was the first day, Sweety?”
“I…it wa..was good, Mum” She said. She didn’t elaborate and her mom didn’t question her further trusting her.
The next few days went by the same. They both passed notes in the class and had small conversations in between classes. Kiara began to relax in her company.
One day, Riya joined her for lunch. In between conversations, Kiara said, “Y…you di…didn’t r…re…react t..to my s…st…stut…stutter.”
“What reaction were you expecting?” Riya asked
“t…te…teasing” whispered Kiara.
“Well, would you make fun of me if you knew everyone looks like huge blob of colors floating around without my specs?” asked Riya.
“N..no” said Kiara.
“Then, why will I tease you? You can manage your stutter only as much as I can manage my eyesight.” Laughed Riya.
Kiara smiled and the conversation ended. They both became really good friends and Kiara’s stutter reduced proportionately to her anxiety.
A year later, Kiara was going through her books when she found Riya’s book in her pile. The same book that has their first notes. She looked at her drawing and remembered Riya’s words. She observed her drawing critically and found that the drawing has a sad feel to it. The girl is sinking with no one to help her.
So she got her pens out and finished the drawing. That evening she went to Riya’s home and showed her the final drawing.
Riya looked at it and in awe, said, “It’s perfect now.”
“Do you really think so?” asked Kiara still doubtful.
“I know so.” Said Riya, “We got to frame this. It’s our first talk, our special memory.” And Riya tore the page from her book and went out of the room to find an empty frame.
Few minutes later, she came back with the page now safely intact inside a frame and put the frame on her desk. Then she got another frame behind her and gave it to Kiara, “I kept the original but I made a copy for you too.”
They both looked at their own copy of the frame, smiled and cheered, “Here’s to forever.”
The frame has their chat and the finished drawing of a girl sinking in water made of words and another girl holding out her hands on a boat made of positive words.
Moral of the story:
Words carry an invisible power to them. They have the ability to rise one to the sky or drown someone to the depths of the bottom. So let’s speak kindly, compassionately.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THIS SHORT STORY:
Manisha Sanghi - A lively mom to a witty toddler who loves baking not only stories but also cookies and cakes
WHY SHORT STORIES FOR KIDS?
Kids learn a lot of life lessons and values through the stories they read. Stories help them to visualise themselves in place of the characters. These stories can be read independently by children or parents can read them to kids and build conversations around different topics .For example in the story, one can talk about fussy eating, on labelling people based on preferences and what kind of effect that can have on people. This story is also a good way to talk about monkeys and their life in forests and their preference for certain types of food. Our posters, maps and flashcards are some screen free way for kids to build knowledge and have conversations and interact
