The Nail in the Fence – A Story To Tell Your Kids for Anti Bullying Week

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The Nail in the Fence

Here is a wonderful story from my never-ending notebook and everlasting coloured pencil that I taught the children in my Year 4 class many years ago.

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.

Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.”

• So what’s this story offering you today?

• How can you pass on this story’s message on to your children ?

Pass It Forward and tell all your friends

If you have found this blog helpful and thought provoking please pass it forward to your friends, colleagues, schools and nurseries……. because as they say….“Alone we can do so little together we can do so much”

 

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