Tilibou
Ball Doesn't Want to Settle Down
A bedtime story for children. Today, Emma runs all day long at the park. She runs after the ball, she jumps, she spins, she laughs, and she starts all over again. "Again! Run again!" Mochi, her lovey, bounces under her arm with every step. When Mom says it's almost time to settle down, Emma answers: "Don't want to! Run more!" Mom smiles and doesn't scold. She waits, nice and slow, for the energy to die down on its own. Emma runs a little more, then a little less, then barely at all, and she falls into Mom's arms, all out of breath. "Done running." That evening, she falls asleep, calm at last. The nightlight becomes a little moon, the rug a soft island, and the Evening World wakes up. Mochi begins the shelf hello: good evening, Pantin. Good evening, Ball. But Ball doesn't say good evening like usual. Boing! Boing-boing! She bounces all around the shelf, so hard that Nina has to dodge. Not bedtime, tonight! Pantin understands: Ball runs all day long with Emma, and she saved all her energy for tonight. Mochi doesn't get cross. "We're not going to force her. We bounce along with her, for as long as it takes." So Mochi jumps a tiny bit, Pantin bounces in his own stiff wooden way, and Nina, very dignified, gives one single little bounce so as not to be left out. Once is enough, she believes. And Ball keeps going, but without anyone noticing, a little less high, a little less fast. This wind-down story for toddlers is a mirror of the famous "not bedtime" phase at two years old. When there is too much energy, no one fights it here: the toys simply go along with it, until it settles by itself. Your child learns that calm comes on its own, in its own time, without a struggle. While Ball slows down, Mochi opens his Cuddle Box and picks the cuddle from after running, all out of breath and happy in Mom's arms. He winds it around the day's energy. Then comes one last boing, tiny now, and Ball settles gently onto the island rug. Even Pantin, tired from bouncing too, falls asleep before his story even begins. "Once is quite enough indeed," whispers Nina. In the morning, Mom asks her little whirlwind if she slept well, and Emma laughs. "Slept well." No one scolds Ball for bouncing, and no one tells her to stop. Everyone simply bounces with her, a little less each time, until the very last boing: this way of welcoming a child's energy instead of fighting it is the whole spirit of Tilibou bedtime stories. And all the while, Mochi's heart goes poc-poc, slower and slower, like one last little boing falling asleep on the soft island. A screen-free lovey story for children from age 2, perfect to enjoy warm and cozy at bedtime, in the car, or before a nap. As always with Tilibou, the ending stays soft and quiet, without music, so your child can drift off to sleep without waking anyone up.
