The Ghost Emergency Procedure

The Ghost Emergency Procedure is a story for children aged (around) 6-10 and is written in rhyming verse.

It's about a young girl called Suki who tells her mother she has a ghost in her room. Her mum teaches her a secret technique for dealing with the ghost, and the story follows Suki as she implements the Ghost Emergency Procedure for the first time. Suki must draw on courage and positivity to deal with her fear.

The story is designed to help children to deal with fear of the unknown, through identifying how their imagination contributes to their fears, and by use of some very simple visualisations and physical techniques.

Excerpt from The Ghost Emergency Procedure...

So Suki sat there paying careful attention
Making sure there was not a thing her mum mentioned
That she would forget when the time finally came
For her to end this silly ghost's most unfriendly game!

And when Mum was done, she tucked Suki in tight.
She blew her a kiss and then turned out the light.
As she closed Suki’s door, she whispered to her -
"I believe in you Suki, you can do this, I’m sure."

Now alone in the dark as she lay in her bed,
Suki pulled up her covers, right up to her head.
She looked around fearfully, her eyes going wide
As she couldn't see a thing, as hard as she tried!

Then slowly, but surely, the shapes started to appear,
Of her toys and her books and the things she held dear.
But now they looked different, they looked fuzzy and dark…
Her favourite dolphin toy now looked like a shark!

Suki blinked her eyes and tried to calm down,
That wasn’t a scarecrow - it was her raggedy clown!
She thought to herself, "I must get a grip!",
But when a sigh broke the silence, Suki felt her heart flip!

© Sri Elkins 2004