Once upon a time, there was a boy named Caio, six years old, who loved to play. He played with cars, superheroes, and built castles with colored blocks… But there was something different about Caio: he didn’t want to go to bed early.
“Just five more minutes!” he would always say, even when the clock was already showing that it was time to go to bed.
Caio thought that sleeping was boring. He wanted to stay awake to see the moon, listen to the crickets and, who knows, maybe find a shooting star in the sky.
At first, no one noticed much of a difference. But as the days went by, Caio started to act strange.
He would wake up very sleepy, yawn all the time and no longer had much energy to run around the playground.
At school, he would forget what the teacher was explaining and sometimes he would get angry for no reason.
“Caio, what’s going on?” asked his grandmother one afternoon.
“I think sleep is making me sluggish…” he answered, a little sad.
Then his grandmother told him an important secret:
“When we go to bed early, our body works from the inside out.” It grows, recovers and organizes everything we have learned. It is as if we had a team of mini-workers taking care of us while we sleep. But they only come on duty when we turn off the light!
Caio thought for a moment. He imagined the mini-workers wearing helmets, fixing his muscles, polishing his memory, taking care of his heart…
That night, Caio decided to do a test. He put away his toys, brushed his teeth and went to bed as soon as the moon appeared in the window.
The next day, he woke up before his alarm clock. He felt light, energetic, with a quicker mind. At the playground, he ran like a rocket!
Since then, Caio still likes the night — but only to dream. He discovered that those who sleep well, play better, learn more and are happier.
The end.
