A few weeks ago when Callum was having trouble getting used to wearing shoes to school, I told him this Callum the Dragon story…
Once upon a time there was a little dragon called Callum. He had a big brother named Elliot the dragon and there was Dadda dragon and Mama dragon as well. Callum had lived his life in Panda Bear country but recently his family had moved to Dragonland.
Lots of things in Dragonland were strange to Callum, especially how when he put his foot down sometimes there was fire that shot up from the ground into his foot. It was unpredictable and Callum didn’t like it. When it happened, he felt like the fire shot straight from his foot out his nose and mouth and even his ears until he was breathing fire and shooting steam out of his ears!
Mama Dragon told him the fiery earth was such a shock for him because the earth in Panda Bear country didn’t do that, so it was something new and things that are new take getting used to. But the thing is, you do get used to them. And Callum the dragon found that over time, he did get used to it. He noticed the fire from the earth less and it didn’t make him as fiery or steamy as what it used to.
But then Callum the dragon had another thought… if he was used to Dragonland now, did that mean he wouldn’t fit in Panda Bear country anymore? Did it mean that he had forgotten Panda Bear country or didn’t love it anymore?
That was when Mama Dragon asked him if he knew what a chameleon is. A chameleon is a special type of dragon that changes for its environment. Mama Dragon told Callum the dragon that he was one of these special types of dragons that can be one thing in one place and one thing in another place. Callum had been learning how to be in Dragonland but that didn’t undo his learning about how to be in Panda Bear country, it just added to it. Sometimes it takes a little while to remember or adjust, even for chameleons, but they can fit in different places.
Categories: Cross-cultural parenting Written by Tamie
Tamie Davis
Tamie Davis is an Aussie living in Tanzania, writing at meetjesusatuni.com.
Meet Jesus at uni 
great and heart-warming story!
Marcus