“This pop-up tent is so nice, Grandpa Jake! It’s going to be so much fun camping with my friends!” exclaimed Tristan.

“It sure is!” added Chantal, as she joined Tristan and Troy. “I have my sleeping bag and camping gear too!”

A little later something in Chantal’s backpack caught Troy’s eye.

Wow! Chantal’s flashlight! It’s so much cooler than mine. I bet the light is very bright!

Chantal was angry when she saw Troy playing with her flashlight. “Who said you could use my flashlight? Give it back!”

“What’s the matter?” asked Grandpa Jake.

“Troy took my new flashlight and was turning it on and off. Now the batteries are dead!” explained Chantal. “So I went to take his batteries, but he took them and ran away. I’m mad at him!”

“There are better ways to solve problems than trying to get back at the other person for what he or she did to you,” said Grandpa Jake. “Why don’t I tell you the story about Suds and Dixie, and what happened when they got into a similar situation.”

Dixie loved to paint bright, colorful pictures of flowers and butterflies. She painted on paper, on big leaves, and even on tree bark.

Mr. Nuggin had asked his students to bring to class something they had made. Dixie brought some of her favorite paintings, and Suds brought carved soap bars shaped like animals.

When it was time to go home, Dixie looked over and saw one of Suds’ soaps in the shape of a duck.

I have an idea! I could paint it for my mother. It would be so pretty! And so, Dixie took the soap bar.

Later that day, while Dixie was painting the bar of soap, someone came up behind her.

“Hey! That’s my soap bar! You’re messing it all up!” exclaimed Suds.

“I’m not messing it up. I’m decorating it,” said Dixie as she took the soap and ran away.

Suds was very upset. “She took my bar of soap, so I’m going to take her shells!”

When Suds got home, her first thought was, I’d better hide these shells! She put the shells on her bed. Just then she heard her mother calling, so she sat on the shells to hide them. Crunch!

“Oh no!” cried Suds as she jumped up. “I crushed the shells when I sat on them! Dixie will be so angry at me!”

When Mother came in the room and saw the broken shells and the tears in Suds’ eyes, she knew something was wrong. Suds told her mother about what had happened.

“Dixie will probably be sad, but it’s better that you tell her the truth,” said Dixie’s mother. “You were upset that Dixie took your soap, but you shouldn’t have taken her shells. When you do something unkind to others, even if you think you have a good reason, it hurts them, and it hurts you too.”

“You’re right, Mom. I’ll tell Dixie about her shells and apologize.”

The next day at Dixie’s house, Suds said, “I took your shells because I was angry at you for taking my soap. I accidentally broke some of them. I’m so sorry!”

Dixie was sad, but then she said, “Actually, I’m the one who should be saying sorry. I should have asked before taking your soap.”

“I forgive you!” Suds replied. ”You can keep the soap.”

“I have an idea for something we can do with these broken shells,” Dixie said. “We can glue them to the outside of a box to decorate it. It can be our friendship box.”

“I’m sorry for wasting your batteries, Chantal. You can use my batteries if you like,” said Troy.

“I forgive you. And I’m sorry for getting mad at you,” said Chantal.

“That’s much better,” said Grandpa Jake. “And you know, I might have a new set of batteries that you can have, Chantal.”

“Thank you for helping us work this out, Grandpa Jake! And thank you for the story!”

Moral:

The things we do affect others. If we treat our friends the way we would like to be treated ourselves, we will make them very happy. And in the end, we will be very happy too!

Copyright Aurora Productions Featured on www.freekidstories.org