Made in Humane Club
Fern the sloth was very fond of insects, ants in general. One bright, sunny morning, Fern decided that he wanted an ant farm. Fern went to ask his mom about it. She said, “Fern, not yet”. Fern went back to his room, disappointed.
In the evening, Fern’s friends came to ask him whether he wanted to play. Fern sulkily said, “Sure”. His friend, Jumper the rabbit, asked, “What is wrong? You seem very disappointed about something”. Fern said, “It is just that I wanted an ant farm, but my mom said not yet. I really wanted it”.
By then, all his friends sat beside him. Sophie the squirrel said, “Your mom didn’t say no. She just said not yet, which means that you will get it someday. After all, your birthday is six months away”.
Lily the skunk said, “Maybe your mom isn’t sure whether you will take care of the ants properly. Maybe she wants you to become responsible and then she will give you the ant farm”.
Fern felt a spark of hope and thought to himself, “Everything has steps. Well, if I can’t take care of myself, how will I take care of others? If I don’t take care of the plants, how will I take care of living creatures?“.
After he came back from the park, he wrote the following on a piece of paper and stuck it on the wall:
- Step 1 – Take care of self
- Step 2 – Help family
- Step 3 – Take care of the plants
- Step 4 – Get the ant farm
The next morning, Fern immediately got up and watered the plants. He went to the breakfast table. His mom remarked, “The plants look very healthy, but did you brush your teeth?”.
Fern thought, “But why isn’t she praising me for the work that I have done? Brushing is sooo boring. Why can’t I do it later?“. Fern was tempted to give his mom a piece of his mind. But then, he remembered the steps that he had written about in his room.
He immediately went up to his room, brushed, and then went through the steps that he had written again. He wanted to get them right, but it was hard to do the boring things.
He had always felt that it could be done later and that there was no need to really do the boring things first. In this case, watering the plants sounded much more fun.
Fern decided to restart the sequence. He brushed, took a bath, and ate his breakfast. Then, he decided to prune the plants. On his way to the balcony, his father asked for water, but Fern ignored him. Then, he pruned the plants. His mother remarked, “I really liked the shape of the plants, but did you give your father water? He is really thirsty”.
Fern felt annoyed at being corrected the second time. He thought, “It is really annoying to get corrected the second time. Then again, she is correct“.
Fern went to give his father some water. Then he went to his room and did his homework.
The next day, he brushed his teeth, took a bath, and ate his breakfast. He then felt like directly watering the plants but realized that he should help wash the dishes. He then helped with the dishes and then watered the plants.
6 months later….
On one regular day, Fern got up early in the morning. He brushed his teeth, took a bath, and combed his hair. Then, he helped his mom pack his lunch. He then went to school.
Once he came back from school, he watered the plants, and then did his homework. “Today went perfectly well!” he exclaimed to himself. Doing things in the right sequence had become second nature to him.
On his 11th birthday…..
Fern had been proving himself for a long time. His mother was so convinced about buying him an ant farm that she bought it on his 11th birthday.
When Fern returned from school, his mom gave him the gift. He was surprised and very happy. He hugged his mom and felt deeply grateful.
He went back to his room and took out another piece of paper. On it, he wrote:
Steps to set up Ant farm:
- Set up the habitat
- Find a queen ant
- Put a wet cotton ball as a water reservoir
- Wait for queen to lay eggs
Fern was so excited to get started!!!
Things to learn: Sequencing means doing things in a specific order. If you skip a step or do them out of turn, your plan doesn’t work correctly. Always follow the sequence to reach your goal!