School Counselor Guidance Lessons for the Character Words of the Month:

Love & Kindness

Below is a sweet little story I wrote using the Warm Fuzzy Friends to teach how important it is to use love and kindness. Students will learn that if they use love and kindness to everyone they encounter, their life, and the life of others will become better. Use this story in your school counseling guidance lesson for the character word of the month. Teachers and parents may also like to read the story to their students to promote the character words "love and kindness" .

I use this guidance lesson for the month of February, but you can use it during any month to promote love and kindness for your school counseling program, classroom lessons, or home reading.

"Amour and the Red Dragon"

A Story About Love and Kindness
for Children

By: Dr. Michelle Stangline, Ed.D., L.P.C.
Copyright 2014 (C) by Creative Counseling 101.com

This is a story about the Warm Fuzzy Friend who went by the French name "Amour". Her name translates to "Love" in English. "Amour" lived in a tiny village with her grandmother. Each day she would wake up and think of ways to bring love and kindness to those around her.

She helped her grandmother with breakfast each morning. After that she fed and watered all the animals that lived on their farm. Then she would go into the village center and see how she could help her villager friends.

She stopped by the general store and helped the clerk sweep the floors. She went to the doctor's office and chatted with the sick patients in the waiting room. She went to the school house and helped tutor some of the students who had trouble reading. She baked eclairs and took them to the widow who lived all alone on the hill. 

"Amour" loved to help and show kindness to everyone she came across. She was always bright and cheerful. Every day was "Valentine's Day" to "Amour". She had a special gift of spreading joy to each and every person she met.

"Amour" never said a mean word to anyone. If someone was mean to her, she would understand that they were sad inside and needed more love and kindness than usual. When this happened, "Amour" would think of something thoughtful to do for the person who was being mean. When she showed them love and kindness they usually apologized and were nicer to her.

One day something terrible happened in the tiny and peaceful village. A mean and nasty Red Dragon flew overhead burning the village houses with his fire breath. The villagers responded by screaming and shouting at the Red Dragon. All the yelling and screaming did not stop the fire breathing Red Dragon. It only made him angrier!   

The next day the same thing happened again, but this time the villagers were prepared with sticks and stones they had collected and stockpiled. As the Red Dragon flew by, flaming the village below, the villagers threw sticks and stones at him. The sticks and stones only made the fire breathing Red Dragon angrier and angrier.

This terrible scene happened each day for an entire week. The villagers would scream at the mean Red Dragon and throw sticks and stones. He would breathe even more fire and destroy even more of the village. It seemed that screaming and throwing sticks and stones at the Red Dragon only made things worse for the villagers.

The villagers became so terrified and upset that they met in the town hall to come up with a plan to stop the red dragon from destroying what was left of the village. "Amour" went to the meeting and tried to calm the angry villagers down.

She told them that they needed to show kindness and love to the Red Dragon, not fear and anger. She said she thought the Red Dragon was really sad and lonely. He was probably hurting inside and did not know how to get the hurt out. If the villagers kept yelling, screaming, and throwing things it would only make the situation worse with the Red Dragon.

But the villagers would not listen and came up with a plan to hunt down the Red Dragon at night fall and put an end to the terror. "Amour" knew she needed to do something so that no one would get hurt. She set out to find the Red Dragon before the sun went down.

The villagers warned her that she would not be safe. But, "Amour" went anyway because she believed that "love and kindness" could solve all the problems in the world, especially the fire breathing Red Dragon.

"Amour" looked high and low for the Red Dragon. She looked along the shoreline and deep inside the caves where the ocean waves crashed. She walked through the hills and valleys near the village. Finally, she climbed the highest mountain, and at the very top she spotted the Red Dragon lying on a rock ledge. As "Amour" got closer she could hear the Red Dragon crying. 

With each tear that fell from the Red Dragon "Amour's" heart got bigger and bigger. She forgot all of her fear and gently approached the Red Dragon. "Mr. Dragon", she quietly said, "Are you alright?" The Red Dragon turned around with tears in his eyes and held up his front paw.

The paw had been severely cut from one of the stones the villagers had thrown and it was bleeding. Luckily, "Amour" had brought her first aid kit and quickly stopped the bleeding by bandaging the paw. Then, she gave the Red Dragon a chocolate eclair.

As the Red Dragon ate the delicious eclair, he told "Amour" his real name was "Flame". He said he was named this because he was always angry and he blew fire from his nose when he was angry.

He said the reason he was always angry was that people were always mean to him. "That is why I breathe fire on the village, because I am angry that the villagers are mean to me and won't accept me," said the Red Dragon by the name of "Flame". 

"Amour" told the Red Dragon that if someone was mean to her she always showed love and kindness back. She said she knew that the people who were mean were secretly hurting inside and that it did not help to be mean and angry back. She asked the Red Dragon if he would like to try to show love and kindness to the villagers. After thinking about it for a few moments he agreed to try this new approach.

Together, the Red Dragon and the Little Pink Warm Fuzzy walked down to the village below. The sun was setting and the village was getting cold. "Flame", the Red Dragon, blew his fire breath into a pile of sticks and logs creating a large bon fire.  

One by one the villagers came out to see what was going on. Flame apologized to everyone and promised to only practice love and kindness towards the villagers. He also said he would help the villagers stay warm that winter by building bon fires each night for everyone to enjoy.

That night the villagers had a party next to the bon fire to celebrate their new friend. They welcomed "Flame" the Red Dragon as one of their own and ate toasted eclairs to celebrate. "Flame" realized that when he showed love and kindness to others he got what he truly wanted... friendship, love,and kindness back.

"Amour" smiled as she saw everyone showing love and kindness to each other. She knew that everything would be alright in the end if people chose to be kind and loving.  

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A Year in the Life of a School Counselor: The Month of February

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See More School Counselor Warm Fuzzy Guidance Lessons with Character Words of the Month

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Disclaimer: This website and its content is intended for trained licensed mental health professionals and school certified mental health professionals to use for their clients / students at their own discretion.

*If you ignore the disclaimer above are using these techniques on yourself and you feel any discomfort or upset it is highly suggested that you seek out a licensed  mental health professional immediately.

"Beyond Art Therapy" is the concept from Dr. Stangline that combines all creative fields in therapy. It is not the traditional "art therapy" but goes beyond to include sand tray therapy, play therapy, mindfulness, meditation, color therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and a vast majority of other therapies.

For any other type of mental health emergency call your local 911 / Police Number immediately.

Dr. Stangline does not offer advice / suggestions to anyone who is not a professional mental health provider, or a student who is studying this field and has questions about mental health programs of study.