What If? (Talking With Trees)

A story that teaches kids to think before they act.

As he gets ready to jump from a high branch, rustling leaves and a warm voice help this adventurous boy to think before he leaps. Before long, he learns how asking "What if?" (and thinking through consequences) can keep him from all sorts of trouble.

“If you’ll hurt yourself, hurt someone else, or make your momma mad, you might need to change your action.”

What if? is based on real situations kids face while growing up, so children can relate the story to their own lives, while they pick up some lessons about responsibility and respect. The kindly mulberry tree helps children develop the self-awareness and social emotional skills they need to make good choices.

Find free printable activities that work with the story and build on the lessons in responsibility, respect, and empathy at TalkingTreeBooks.com .

What If? is Book 3 in the Talking with Trees Series of values books for kids. Written for grades K-4, Talking with Trees books and teaching resources engage children emotionally, helping them learn how to use their hearts and minds to guide them toward building good character traits. Talking with Trees books teach social emotional skills through lessons around honesty, respect, responsibility, and empathy.

Do you ever struggle with the right words to teach your children how to grow up to be good people? How do you explain honesty to a 5-year old? Well, while raising 4 children, I got to experiment--a lot--with how to teach honesty, respect, responsibility, and other good traits. After a while (really, after subjecting my kids to countless lectures they didn't understand), I finally found a way to communicate these important life lessons. So save yourself and your kids some hassle, and perhaps some future therapy sessions. Try out the Talking with Trees books. I bet your kids will relate to these character building stories since they are based on the real life situations all four of our children grew through. I hope you enjoy.