Gribbin is a third grade student at Green Turtle Elementary School.

He's smart, friendly, and has always loved going to school.

It was another normal day in class until Gribbin's teacher, Mr. McKee, assigned the class a special project.

"Alright, guys!" Mr. Mckee announced. With winter break right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to assign one last project before the holidays."

"Your assignment is to pick something you personally enjoy and explain it to the whole class with a speech," he continued. "It can be on whatever you want. It'll be due in one week!"

Suddenly, Gribbin was terrified.

He had never given a presentation in front of a group of people before. Even though he was normally very social, the thought of standing up in front of his whole class and presenting made him feel like his stomach was in knots!

He became so anxious that it made him very sad.

What if he messed up and made a fool of himself in front of the whole class?

What if he didn't pick a good enough topic and his classmates thought he was boring?

The thought of everything that could go wrong made him feel like he was spinning around in a black hole!

Five days passed, and Gribbin was so nervous he didn't even start planning for his presentation.

Gribbin's father noticed that his son was not as cheery as usual, and went up to his room to investigate.

"What's the matter, Gribbin?" he asked.

"I have to give a speech to my class in two days, and I'm so nervous about screwing it up that I don't even know where to begin, "Gribbin said flatly. "So I'm pretty much doomed to fail."

"Well, why would you be afraid to present to your classmates?" his father asked. "They're all your friends. Even if you did make a mistake, they won't care because they already like you!"

Gribbin was stunned. "I never thought about it that way!"

Gribbin's dad smiled. "As long as you're prepared, you have nothing to worry about." he said. "When I have to present an idea at work, I practice going through it at home before I actually get there so I already have an idea of what I'm going to say."

"That's a great idea!" Gribbin said cheerfully. He spent the next two days working hard on his project.