Roary loved racing. He was an off-road race car. Roary loved speed, adventure and was also kind, caring and loved spending time with his family and friends.

Roary was smart too and loved learning new things. Sometimes when he was super excited, joyful, or at times angry, sad or even a bit worried, his engine would start to rumble and like any race car it would start revving super high.

This was quite hard for his friends and others to understand. Sometimes even for himself to understand.
Roary had wonderful friends. There was Rocky, Rosy, Buster, Charlie and Tank.

They would meet at the track and practice their racing. Their annual Race day was ahead of them and although it was a fun day, Roary and his friends always made sure they were ready for Race day.

One day while he was practicing on the race track with his friends, Rosy bumped into him and he went off the track. Oh boy was his engine revving up high

VROOOOOOOM!

He shouted at Rosy and this caused Rosy to race away. So did all his other friends that day.
Except for Charlie. He stayed with Roary.

Charlie was a bright yellow Race car and he wasn’t the fastest on the track but he sure was good with racing tips and skills. Charlie could see how upset Roary was and he came up next to him.

He explained to Roary that sometimes things like that happen to him too, and these big, not-so-good feelings rise up in his engine.

Charlie encouraged Roary to keep riding and that tomorrow he can try again.

The next day, Roary, Charlie and the others, arrived at the track. That day was exciting because Buster had made a new ramp and they were all so excited to try it out.

Roary’s engine was revving high with excitement. As they started racing around the track, Rory was about to head up on the brand new ramp. Buster appeared.

Buster went past Roary and ahead of him. Rory could feel his engine go

VROOOOOOM!!!
The next thing he knew the excitement got too much and the not-so good feelings came about.

He felt FRUSTRATED! He raced in front of Buster. Roary turned around and drove straight up to Buster shouting at him. Buster and the others drove off. Charlie stayed.

How will we have our Race Day next weekend, Charlie?”
Charlie didn’t have all the answers but he shared something with Roary that day.

Charlie told Roary that his grandfather taught him something. Just like on Race Day, we take pit stops to look after our parts. We change tires at certain times and may need more fuel.

Just like our outside parts need some help, so does our engine inside. So when we feel our engines revving high and really loudly which makes it hard for us to think clearly, we need to think of pit stops.

Looking after our engine and making sure it is prepared for what is coming. Have I filled up with fuel. Not just the fuel to keep my engine running but also fuel to keep my brain going. So this could also mean doing things like…

Taking 5 minutes of quiet time. Checking in if my engine needs rest; I could take a slow drive in the sunshine. Doing something fun off the track like a car wash!

Well this got Roary thinking really hard. Race Day was upon him and he knew that this meant trying hard to practice keeping his engine in check. They had one more day of practice and he really hoped that his friends would join him.

The next day Roary got to the race track. All his friends were there. He made sure that he said sorry to them before anyone got onto the track.

As they began their first lap, Roary and his friends eased into the practice, Tank came a little too close to Roary and bumped him off the track.

Roary could feel his engine revving and REVVING, higher and HIGHER. He was about to turn around and chase Tank down. Then suddenly he could hear Charlie in his mind and what he shared with him.

Three. Loooooong. Deeeeeeeeep. Breaths.
This still felt SO hard.

His friends were about to drive away but he kept the front of his bumper down and kept driving. It still felt hard for him. His friends took one more look and could see Roary filled up with frustration and drove off.

Roary felt disappointed.
He tried really hard to keep his engine calm. Roary decided that next time he would try harder. Giving up wasn’t an option.

Two days later, Roary could hear all his friends at the track. He decided to join them. Racing was fun but as Roary was about to take his last lap, Charlie appeared next to him and started revving up high to race.

They raced two laps and Charlie moved in too close and bumped Roary. As all the friends were watching and expecting, Roary’s engine started revving up real high and the steam started puffing. Roary felt annoyed.

Charlie parked next to him.
Roary started taking deep breaths. He could feel his engine slowing down. He even closed his eyes. This helped a lot. Roary felt good. He felt proud. He took a short break and rode off for some quiet time.

Before he left the track, he raced over to Charlie and they gently high fived each other. Roary was so proud of himself. He did it! He kept his engine in check.

Roary and his friends were all at Rosy’s house the next day and Rosy took out a board game. What fun Roary thought! As they were playing, Roary’s excitement rose up and Roary could feel the big feelings…He didn’t want them to take over so…

He remembered what he needed to do. He went off on a short ride and when he got back he could feel his engine in check. He joined in on the game and played one more round before going home.

That following day it was Race Day. Roary and his friends were excited. They were sharing with him about how proud they were of his engine from the past. The race started and it was so exciting. Roary gave it his best.

Roary held first place most of the race and almost won but Rosy came up close behind and was the winning champion. Roary could feel his engine full of happiness and some disappointment.

He managed to keep his engine in check by finding a quiet spot first, and then as he got to Rosy and all his friends, she shouted out…

“The biggest celebration today is you Roary,

You and your engine!”