Girl who climbed across Monkey Bars

An original bed time story for kids on value of resilience

Once upon a time, in a not very far away land, there was a little girl called Akira. She was a happy and chirpy child who used to love playing in the park with her friends. Every evening all of them used to gather in the park to swing on swings, slide on slides, swirl on merry-go-round, and go up and down on see-saws.

There was also a big shiny Monkey Bar in the park. A few of the big kids used to race across till the end and few others could actually climb up and sit at the very top. They used to make merry and keep monkeying around it.

Akira also wanted to do Monkey Bars but it was so big that she was scared to try it. One day she asked her mother “ Can you please help me with the Monkey Bars?” “Oh Yes, Sweetheart” Her mother readily answered. Her mother carried her up and helped her to hang on the bars. Then her mother slowly moved forward so that Akira could hold the next bar. Slowly and steadily they finished the whole set of bars. Akira was really happy. She had done something new that day.

The next day Akira wanted to do the Monkey Bars again. Now she claimed the Monkey Bars and hanged on the first bar. She was able to hang on the first bar for a long time but was too scared to move forward on her own. Her mother and her friends kept encouraging her from the sides but she couldn’t do it.

Akira was sad and started crying. “Oh what happened Akira” when her mother asked her, she said “ I can’t do Monkey Bars. It’s too difficult “. Her mother smiled and gently said “ It’s okay baby, it’s just your second day. You did very well for today. Do you know if you want to learn something there is a secret to it. Do you want to know what it is? “ Now Akira was curious, she really wanted to know the secret of learning Monkey Bars. She stopped crying. She looked curiously at her mother and nodded. Her mother came closer and whispered the secret in her ear. “ If you want to learn something you need to practice, practice, practice it every day and one day it will happen.” Akira thought about it for a minute. Then she nodded and said “ Then I am going to practice it everyday".

That day onwards she started practicing Monkey Bars with the help of her mother and friends. At times she could hang for longer, the others she would fall and ask for help. Sometimes her mother helped her in crossing the bars. Eventually, one day she overcomes her fear and swings from the first bar to the second on her own. Her mother and her friends started clapping and cheering her up. Then she moved to the next bar… then next and this is how she climbed through the Monkey Bars. “Yey, I did it” she said once she climbed down from the other side. “ Yes, you finally did” Her mother said, beaming with pride and joy.

Akira still kept on practicing Monkey Bars and now she could do it effortlessly. It was the new favourite slide of her and her friends. One day a new kid came to the park. When he also tried and couldn’t swing across the bars, Akira came to him and asked “ Do you want me to tell you the secret to Monkey Bars?”. When he nodded she whispered in his ears “ You just need to practice, practice, practice and it will happen”.

Raising a kid makes the parents also reflect and understand the world around them better. During my interaction with my daughter we end up making some really special memories together. This story was one such attempt in preserving a special interaction of us. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did while living it. At times the simple experience of life ends up being our riches.