national final—despite neither team’s scoring a goal—Tim began awakening in the night, screaming
out loud, and going into his parents’ bedroom, disturbing them. One night Cath led him back to his
room, picking up a jigsaw puzzle from the family room on the way through. She sat at Tim’s bed-
side, spread the pieces out on a tray, and said, “Sometimes when we have a problem, it is like a jig-
saw. T here may be pieces everywhere that don’t seem to make sense. When we put them in the right
places, we can solve the problem and see it for what it is.” Together, mother and son sat on the bed
solving the puzzle.
The next morning, over breakfast, Tim explained to his mother that his state team had played
poorly in the national final, leaving the weight on his shoulders as goalie. Conversely, he had played
his best game ever—not allowing a single ball to sneak passed him. As the opposing team accepted
the trophy, their coach made a speech in which he said the trophy should really be Tim’s as he was
the player of the day and would undoubtedly go on to be a national champion. Tim began to have
nightmares, constantly worrying, “But what if I let a goal through one day?” And this was why he
was awakening, screaming in the night.
Following the nocturnal jigsaw solving and his discussion of what had happened, he declared to his
mother, “Only I can help myself.” “Then what do you need to do to help yourself?” she replied. Tim
talked to his coach, changed positions, began to enjoy his soccer again, and was soon sleeping well.
Cath illustrated nicely how the use of aids, toys, and games, combined with one or two simple,
presuppositional questions (i.e., questions that presuppose an outcome in contrast to asking why a
behavior is occurring), can be used metaphorically to help resolve a problem.
Similarly, teachers and therapists can use puppets, dolls, and toys to structure and communicate
outcome-oriented stories. This is a different process from using them diagnostically to interpret the psy-
chodynamic symbolism of childhood play. In metaphor therapy, the stories acted out by the puppets,
dolls, or toys will (a) identify the problem, ( b) communicate means for resolving the problem, (c) model
the types of skills and resources necessary for such resolution, and (d) offer a potentially attainable out-
come. In Chapters 14 and 15 I will explore how to structure such outcome-oriented metaphors—
whether communicated verbally through books, videos, drama, puppets, toys, or other aids.
PLAY AS METAPHOROnce, a famous teacher was returning home from an important lecture he had just delivered to a
group of esteemed colleagues, and was absorbed in the accolades he had received. His route took him
along a beach-side boardwalk where something caught his eye. A young boy on the beach was build-
36 Effective Storytelling for Kids and Teens
EXERCISE 3.4
■ Build a collection of resources that you might use for working with children of vari-
ous ages: dolls, blocks, toys, jigsaw puzzles, etc.
■ Plan the outcome of your play-based story.
■ Use the objects that are relevant and interesting for your child.