The Emotions Express!

The Emotions Express! by Dr. Jyoti Hegde

Parents and teachers can use this short story to encourage children to express their emotions through words.
 
Tina was playing in a garden. Suddenly, a piece of melodious music fell on her ears. Curious, she moved in the direction of the music and realized that the music was coming from a colourful train. The train was named "The Emotions Express." It had four bogies with different colours having names - Glad, Sad, Mad and Scared.
 
She was attracted to the green bogie named Glad since the music was being played in it. She opened the door, and saw a mind-blowing sight. Characters with name plates of different words were dancing hand in hand. One of the characters welcomed Tina saying, "Hi, I am the word Happy. Please join us in our celebration." Tina felt happy to meet Happy, as he looked happy. He then introduced his siblings and said, "Most kids are not familiar with Enthusiastic, Accepted, Proud, Excited, Courageous, Loved, Confident, and so they don’t use these words much. I am the most used word." Happy explained to Tina what each word meant and Tina said, "I promise to use these words while speaking, when I experience these emotions." Tina found these words to be full of positive energy. She wanted to spend more time with them but she was also curious to know what was there in the other bogies.
 
Next, she went to the blue bogie named Sad. On opening the door she saw characters with name plates sitting silently with sad faces in a corner. Tina introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Tina. What are your names? Why do you look so sad?" "Hi, I am the word, Sad," said one of the characters. "When Kids feel sad, they never use the word Sad. They usually express this emotion by crying. Meet my siblings, Disappointed, Embarrassed, Lonely, Guilty, and Hurt." Tina learnt the meaning of each word and remembered that every time she was feeling down, Sad was not the right word for it. She was now clear that when she didn't get what she wanted, she had to express it as "disappointed." 
 
She then ran towards the red bogie named Mad. She could hear heated arguments. When Tina opened the door, a name plate came flying out! She dodged quickly and managed to avoid getting hit hard on the head. "I am the word Angry", said a heated voice. "We are fighting as there was a competition among all the words used by kids to express their feelings and we got the least score. When Kids feel angry, they never use the word Angry. They usually express their feeling by harming self, others or things. My siblings too have become aliens to kids. They are Frustrated, Jealous, Irritated, Bitter and Offended." Tina realised she too was one of those kids who was not aware of Angry, and his siblings. She would express these emotions by breaking objects or hitting others. She promised herself that the next time instead of expressing these feelings through body language; she would express them through words. 
 
Last she entered the yellow bogie marked Scared. Scared came and introduced his siblings quickly to Tina in a shivery voice, "Hi, I am the word Scared. Meet Nervous, Anxious, Worried, Tensed and Threatened." Saying this Scared ran inside.
 
Just then someone poured water on Tina's face. She opened her eyes to know that she was woken up from a beautiful dream by her younger sister, Ela. Her first instinct was to hit Ela, but she remembered her promise and groaned, "Ela, I am feeling Frustrated because you woke me from my beautiful dream of The Emotions Express." Tina had learnt to express her emotions through words.