Chapter 20: Check Your Cluck- Handling Emotions and Feelings
Clucky the chicken was having one of those mornings. The sun was shining, the rooster was crowing, and everything should have felt just right. But when Clucky accidentally scattered hay across the coop, Mr. Featherbottom clucked loudly, “Clucky, you’re always making a mess!”
His sharp words stung, and Clucky felt her feathers puff up with frustration. Her beak opened to cluck back something sharp, but she stopped herself just in time. She remembered Mama Hen’s wise words: “Check your cluck before you run amuck!”
Taking a deep breath, Clucky paused and asked herself, What am I feeling? The answer came quickly—frustration. Just naming the feeling made it seem smaller, like letting air out of an overfilled balloon. She glanced at the mess she’d made and thought, Will this even matter tomorrow? The image of herself and her friends laughing and pecking around the yard later made her realize it wouldn’t.
With that, she flapped her wings a few times, shook out the irritation, and felt the tension ease away.
Just as Clucky was regaining her calm, Penny the Pig waddled over in a flurry of snorts. “Clucky!” Penny cried. “Someone spilled water in my mud patch, and now it’s ruined!”
Her little piggy eyes were wide, and her hooves were stomping in distress. Clucky could see that Penny was caught in her own emotional whirlwind.
Remembering Mama Hen’s advice, Clucky stepped closer, put a wing on Penny’s shoulder, and said softly, “Oh, Penny, I can tell you’re really upset about your mud.” Penny sniffled but stopped stomping, her ears twitching as she listened.
Clucky stayed as calm as a feather floating on the breeze. “Let’s figure this out together,” she said. “What do you think we could do to fix it?”
Penny paused, her snorts slowing, and then her face brightened. “We could bring more water and make new mud!” she exclaimed.
With teamwork and a few giggles along the way, they fetched buckets of water and splashed until Penny’s mud patch was squishier and better than ever.
As they stood back and admired their work, Penny turned to Clucky with a grateful smile. “Thanks, Clucky,” she said.
Clucky grinned, feeling proud of how she had managed her own emotions and helped a friend through theirs. It wasn’t always easy, but Clucky knew that checking her cluck before running amuck made all the difference.
From that day on, whenever emotions ran high on the farm, Clucky used her calm, thoughtful ways to turn storms into sunshine. Because, as Mama Hen always said, emotions might flap through your feathers like a wild wind, but with a little pause, perspective, and kindness, you can handle anything.