Background: I see around me many young children and teenagers eat a lot of junk food. Sometimes parents also have no control over this, as they overdo on sugary and fried items that are not good for health. I saw obesity very common among my peers when I was young and continue to see the ill effects of poor food habits even today.
Where the Out of balance behaviour is : Binge Eating and greedily eating all food, and the resolution would be to eat mindfully in moderation.
AGE: 6 - 10 years
Recommendation for: greed, binge eating, selfish behaviour, obesity.
There was a fountain in the middle of the city square. It was a gorgeous fountain that had many colourful Koi fish and some water plants in it. The centrepiece of this fountain was a mirror polished large dove. Many people came to this fountain, and sometimes they would throw some food like wheat flour balls or bread crumbs to draw the fish up towards the surface of the water.
Here a fish family lived happily with their fishy friends and fishy cousins. The main food for the fish was the algae and the insect larvae which was enough for all of them.
But there were three fish friends: Bubbles, Bobo and Sparky who were never happy with the simple meal of the abundant algae and larvae in the water. They would swim up to the surface immediately when the wheat flour balls were seen in the water and gobble them up.
Gobble gobble, gobble the balls, come 1 , come 2 , come 3
Gobble gobble , chomp chomp
We are always ready to eat!
Days and months passed this way, and the other fish family could see that the three friends were eating more and more every day.
Wise old Grandpa who was fondly known as Koipa, was watching all this from his corner of the fountain, when the worried parents of Bubbles, Bobo and Sparky came to him.
“Dear Koipa, you are the wise one among all of us. We are unable to stop the three boys from eating the flour balls. Our human friend Mr. Sam comes every afternoon to clean up the water from any extra food or debris but the three boys eat up all the flour balls before Mr Sam can do his job. Please help us!
Now Koipa thought for a few minutes and said, “Send the three boys to me tomorrow as the first ray of sunlight shines on the Mirror polished Dove, and I shall see what to do”.
The parents agreed and went back home, waiting for the next day and what it would bring.
Early next morning, at sunrise, a large yellow- orange ray of the sun shone on top of the mirror polished dove sculpture in the centre of the fountain. It was a gorgeous sight.
The three boys woke up lazily and were told to meet Koipa immediately at his fishy corner of the fountain.
Bubbles realised he just could not move, he had stuffed himself with ten extra flour balls the previous day.So he swam with much difficulty to Grandpa Koipa’s corner.
Bobo realised that he was farting- pfweet..pfweet! Oh his stomach felt so hard and bloated. So he swam with much difficulty to Grandpa Koipa’s corner.
Sparky had another issue. He was burping : Burp! Burp! Oh his stomach felt so hard and bloated. So he swam with much difficulty to Grandpa Koipa’s corner.
Because of this, a white cloud-like layer has started to form at the bottom of the water,, which had become smelly too.
When all three arrived, grandpa Koipa told them:
“There’s a special treat for all three of you. Today strawberry flavoured wheat balls are going to be delivered exactly under the mirror polished dove tail. All three of you must make it there right away to get the maximum strawberry flour balls”.
The eyes of the three fish friends lit up and they all turned around to get under the dovetail quickly. As they swam, Bubbles struggled to move fast, Bobo farted away and Sparky burped his way to the place.
When they reached the spot, the bright sun was shining over the mirror polished dove and the tail reflected the water below. Bubbles looked up, then Bobo and Sparky followed.
“Oh my, who’s that? There are three extra large pot bellied, very strange looking fish stuck to the dovetail”, said Bubbles.
Yes echoed Bobo and Sparky. They look like they are dead, they can hardly move, their scales are dull and red. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near them! Let’s go
But as they began to move away, the fish under the dovetail also moved.
“Hey, wait a minute, Bubbles said. These are not other fish, this looks like - US!
Bobo and Sparky shuddered. “Oh no! Look at us, we look so… so… different…”
The three friends sighed and their bodies started sinking to the bottom of the fountain. They forgot all about the strawberry flavoured flour balls that they were waiting for.
They looked around and there were still flour balls of the previous day in the water and they noticed for the first time the white cloudy layer in the water.
After a long silence, Bubbles said, “We must do something, look at our parents. They are swimming so swiftly and with ease and they do so much work here in the fountain. We three have just…. well.. we just have been eating and sleeping”.
“Maybe we can help Mr Sam by cleaning some of the mess we have made”, Bobo suggested. Yes, let us clean up all the mess we have made, said Bubbles and Sparky.
As they started helping, they realised something magical was happening.
The water started becoming clearer and over many days and many nights their fatty bloated bodies slowly started shrinking. Their dull red scales disappeared. They felt more energy and they could move faster -swiftly in the water now.
A little of this a little of that
A little , a little each day
We chew our food , we chew our food
The gobbling has gone away!
We feel so young, we feel so fresh
We swim swiftly and swiftly this way
We don’t need more food than that
Put all the extra food away!
Grandpa Koipa and the parents of Bubbles, Bobo and Sparky joined in the fun as they all formed a circle singing the new fishy song of Dovetail Fountain.