Story Time Cautions

This is a cautionary tale, a word to the wise, or remember to preview all sharing from children. This is a true story of sharing by a sweet faced 8 year old girl at a recent storytime. I do a social skill based storytime at the local shelters and this week the skill was, "making an apology" or restitution. After telling a story and reading a book about a little boy who got in trouble, the girl waved her hand in the air and wanted to know if she could tell what she did to get in big trouble. I let the group know the ground rules for sharing, but she is still bouncing up and down wanting to tell her story. Against my gut instinct I agreed to let her tell.
Ana's Story:
Okay, so, one time we got a dog, and he went in my brother's room and peed on his blanket. (so far it's ok). Then, I wrapped the dog in the blanket {I am getting worried}, and put the dog under the bed. Then, my brother came in and took the dog and put it in the freezer {my mind is screaming damage control, damage control}. Then we went to bed, my dad got up in the morning and got mad because when he opened the freezer he found the dog. { I start talking about being kind to animals...} oh, she says, the dog wasn't dead he was still breathing because we wrapped him in 4 blankets!!! {me- tries to bring the group back to topic, "did you say you were sorry?"} oh no! my brother was mad we took the dog out of the freezer, because the dog peed on his blanket. { at this point, it was clearly time to do our craft}

Show and/tell Rules:
#1 all items or stories must be previewed by the presenter
#2. Establish clear boundaries and items which can be shared
#3. Limit time
#4. Use protective interrupting (protect the child from themselves or protect others)
#5. Report/confiscate if necessary (I had a child bring a bullet for show & tell once)