Giving a Compliment

Sometimes, you like something someone is doing or wearing, and you want to tell them. In this story, Javi learns how to give a compliment. 

Grown-ups, try this at home! 

Did you try this with your child? How'd it go? Connect with us at realstoriesrealchildren@gmail.com, or on IG at @RealStoriesRealChildren and let us know! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Welcome to Real Stories for Real Children, where we tell stories about real things that happen in children's lives and help them know what to say and what to do. Has there ever been a time where you saw someone doing or wearing something that you liked? Maybe you wanted to tell them, but you didn't know how. A compliment is a kind thing you say to someone when you like something about them. In today's story, Javi learns how to give a compliment. One day, Javi and his mama and his papa and his sister were at the store. It was one of Javi's favorite stores. It was a store that had a toy section where he could also buy things like milk and fruit and even clothes. Javi was playing in the toy section of the store. At first, it was just him playing with all the toys while his mama and papa stood nearby with his baby sister. Javi was playing with a ball. He bounced the ball. Boing, boing, boing. After a few minutes of playing with the ball, another child came into the toy section. She was wearing a dark blue shirt and white pants. And she was wearing sneakers that had pink glitter all over them. They were so sparkly. Javi loved glitter. And he loved her glittery shoes so much that he just stopped bouncing the ball and stood there staring at her shoes. He looked at her shoes for a long time while she played with the toys. He hardly noticed that his papa had come right up next to him. His papa bent down and said, Javi, I see that you're looking at that other child's shoes. Do you like them? Javi said, Yes, they're glittery and they're beautiful. His papa told him, If you want, you can tell her that you like her shoes. That's called giving a compliment. Would you like to try it? Javi felt very shy. He did like those glittery shoes, and he did want to tell her, but he wasn't sure if he was quite ready yet. He shook his head and said, No. His papa said, okay. And Javi looked at the little girl's shoes for a few minutes longer before he went back to bouncing the ball. A few weeks later, Javi and his mama were at the library. They were at the library to go play with some Legos. Javi was sitting at a table making a car out of Legos, and there was a child next to him working on a really, really tall tower of Legos. Javi really liked that tower of Legos. He stared for a few moments and then remembered what his papa had told him a few weeks before. If he liked something, he could tell someone. That was giving a compliment. He thought about what he was going to say, and then he looked up at the child building the tower. And he said, I like your tower. He said it really softly. The child building the tower of Legos didn't say anything and didn't look up. Maybe he didn't hear Javi. Javi looked at his mama. His mama said, Javi, sometimes you need to use a bit of a stronger voice if you want someone to hear you. Javi spoke up in a stronger voice and said, I like your tower. The boy looked up and said, thanks, and smiled. Javi smiled too. It felt nice to tell someone that he really liked something that they were working on. Your turn. Has there ever been a time that you saw something that someone was doing or wearing that you really liked?

SPEAKER_00 4:51

If your grown-up is nearby, maybe they can help you think of something. If you ever want to give someone a compliment, you can say I like and then say the thing that you like you do it.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Sometimes it can be hard to tell someone that we like something that they're doing or wearing, especially if we don't really know the person very well. But it can also feel nice to let someone know that you like something that they're doing or wearing. And sometimes someone might give you a compliment that might feel nice. If someone ever gives you a compliment and you don't know what to do, you could just say thanks. Now you know what to do. If you ever see someone doing or wearing something that you like, you can give them a compliment. Until next time, grown-ups, please try this at home.