101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens

STORY 31

CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE: A KID STORY

Therapeutic Characteristics

Problems Addressed

■ Parental separation

■ Custody battle

■ Feeling caught in the middle

Resources Developed

■ Seeking solutions

■ Looking for compromises

■ Accepting what cannot be changed

■ Finding the positives

■ Seeing yourself as lovable

Outcomes Offered

■ Acceptance
■ Self-worth
■ The sense that “I am okay”
Once there was a doll, a very beautiful doll by the name of Pollyanna Priscilla Ponsenbury the
Third. Pollyanna Priscilla Ponsenbury the Third was one of a kind, a specially made doll that any col-
lector of beautiful dolls would have loved to own—except, it seemed to Pollyanna Priscilla Ponsen-
bury the Third, her current owners. As a result, poor Pollyanna Priscilla Ponsenbury the Third didn’t
think of herself as being special. In fact, she thought of herself as plain old Polly the dolly.
One day Polly the dolly found herself in an auction. Do you know what that is? You might have
seen auctions on TV where several people want to own the same thing and they each offer more
money until the highest offer is accepted.
Polly didn’t really understand how she had come to be in this position and several times won-
dered if there was something she had done to cause her to be here. Somehow the auction didn’t feel
right, but there was nothing Polly could do to prevent what was happening, and that didn’t feel very
good either.
On one side of the room was a man who was bidding for Polly the dolly. He appeared to be a
nice, kindly man who seemed to truly love her and to want her to be in his home with him. On the
other side of the room was a woman who was also bidding for Polly. She, too, seemed nice and kindly
and was equally determined to have Polly the dolly in her house with her. As they each made their
bids it was almost as though Polly could hear them saying, “Come and live with me. I’ll take care of
you. I’ll look after you. I want you in my home.” If a doll could look sad, then poor little Polly cer-
tainly would have looked sad... because that was the way she felt. She didn’t like being caught in
the middle, not knowing which home to live in, not feeling she had much choice, and not really
wanting to make that choice even if she had it.

MANAGING RELATIONSHIPS

Managing Relationships 103