Luz Agudelo

The rivers bring stories and wisdom that grandmothers know how to transform into unforgettable moments full of love.
I was born and raised in Zaragoza, a Colombian mining town on the banks of the Nechí River.
Every day, the grandmother told us short stories to the cousins ​​that, by way of aphorisms, gave us guidelines to grow and fend for ourselves.

Short stories come to us in many ways. Positive parenting also gives us elements to be attentive to learning at any time and place.

The Three Giants of the Courtyard.

My grandmother told me that she listened to her grandmother,
tell this story that I am telling you today:

While I was playing in the yard with my cousins, she ordered us
that we did not go beyond the sapodilla tree.
He also said that when children don’t listen,
and go beyond the lot,
the long outer roots of the swamp trees,
like the legs of a spider,
They would come to life to take us by the hand,
to bring us back with a lot of skill.

However, if we managed to get
to the edge of his land,
where the pebble beach began
and the road was full
of gray and black rocks,
before reaching the river bank,
we were going to stumble
with three huge rubber trees
They wouldn’t let us cross.
Since ancient times,
they have been there in the sun and the cold.
They were three giants that the sky
as a punishment or as a gift
had turned into sticks
so high that their leaves seemed to touch the velvet clouds,
and now they were the guardians of that soil.

My grandmother never answered our questions
for knowing what caused the giants
They end up in such a situation.
The important thing is that she was really smart
and with his story he scared us enough
so that, for a few moments,
while she made lunch in the kitchen
We act with discipline.

That day none of his grandchildren tried to go to the river,
but, with fear and wanting to know the truth,
by group consent, our curiosity
He pointed somewhere else.
Gone is the desire to take shortcuts
to see snakes, alligators and tadpoles,
floating on the bank of the Nechí River.

Now our attention was directed
towards the giants that come to life.
So little by little we approach the unknown,
every time one of us gave
a step towards the forbidden.
Looking up,
waiting for the moment these trunks will take the initiative
to begin to transform and would like to catch us.

It moved! Shouted one of my nervous cousins,
listening to the snapping of the branches,
but it was not a giant but the noisy wind.
Finally, face to face, we were left thinking,
What could be happening.
Why didn’t they move?
Maybe they were drowsy,
maybe over the years they were already deaf
and they did not listen to the grandmother and her warning.

A little disappointed and cautious
without mentioning a word,
We return to Grandma’s
before she called us.
She looked at the sole of our shoes
and smiled when he saw us, because his stories,
They took us away from the river and we shared pleasant moments.

Bullying has been around forever, just under different names. That behavior that hides a giant fear behind it is possible to know how to avoid it with teachings like the one I wanted to transmit in Los Tres Gigantes del Patio. I love creating and sharing short stories. That is also what positive parenting is about.

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