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Stories about Children

 

Whenever I'm disappointed with my spot in life, I stop and think about a young friend with intellectual difficulties. Jamie was trying out for a part in a school play. His mother told me that he'd set his heart on being in it, though she feared he would not be chosen. On the day the parts were awarded, I went with her to collect him after school. Jamie rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement. "Guess what Mum," he shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to me, "I've been chosen to clap and cheer."

 

A group of first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different colour hair than the other family members. One child suggested that he was adopted and a little girl said, "I know all about adoptions because I was adopted." "what does it mean to be adopted?" asked another child. "It means," said the girl, "that you grew in your mummy's heart instead of her tummy."

 

While working for an organization that delivers lunches to elderly shut-ins, I used to take my four-year-old daughter on my afternoon rounds. She was unfailingly intrigued by the various appliances of old age, particularly the canes, walkers and wheelchairs. One day I found her staring at a pair of false teeth soaking in a glass. As I braced myself for the inevitable barrage of questions, she merely turned and whispered, "The tooth fairy will never believe this!"

 

A lesson in "heart" is my little 10 year old daughter, Sarah, who was born with a muscle missing in her foot and wears a brace all the time. She came home one beautiful spring day to tell me she had competed in sports day where they had lots of races and other competitive events. Because of her leg support, my mind raced as I tried to think of encouragement for my Sarah, things I could say to her about not letting this get her down, but before I could get a word out, she said "Daddy, I won two of the races!" I couldn't believe it! Then Sarah said, "I had an advantage." "Ah! I knew it," I thought, "She must have been given a head start ... some kind of physical advantage. But again, before I could say anything, she said, "Daddy, I didn't get a head start ... my advantage was I had to try harder!"

 

A little girl had just finished her first week of school. "I'm just wasting my time," she said to her mother. "I can't read, I can't write - and they won't let me talk!"

 

While walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, our minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently, his five-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead bird. Feeling that a proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton-wool, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased. The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: "Glory be unto the Faaaather. .and unto the Sonnn ......and into the hole he gooooes."

 

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone take home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd." I had quite a weekend planned with parties, and a football game with my friends the next afternoon, so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled round looking for his glasses, I saw tears in his eyes. As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should 'get a life'." He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books,and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to a private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said Yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are going to really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak.

Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!" He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. "Thanks," he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and said "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach, but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.

I am going to tell you a story." I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying all his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. "Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable." I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse. "Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."

 

A successful, young executive was travelling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his expensive new sports car. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the car's side door! He slammed on the brakes and spun the car back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. He jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid that was standing there and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, "What do you think you are doing, boy?" Building up a head of steam he went on, "That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?" "Please sir, please. I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do," pleaded the youngster. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop ..."

Tears were dripping down the boy's chin as he pointed around the parked car. "It's my brother," he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up." Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me,"

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be okay.

"Thank you very much." the grateful child said to him.

The man then watched the little boy push his brother down the sidewalk toward their home. It was a long walk back to his sports car ... a long slow walk. He never did repair the side door. He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention.

God whispers in your soul and speaks to your heart. Sometimes when you don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you. It's your choice: Listen to the whisper - or wait for the brick.

 

A young girl was asked how she managed to do so well at so many things, even when others teased or criticised her. She said, "My parents fill my cup of self-esteem so full that when other people poke holes in it, it doesn't all run out."

 

A little girl had her feelings hurt. Her father sat with her and talked and listened as she cried. Later when she felt better and her father went out of the room, she called out, "Dad, thank you for tying my heart back together again." Her father asked her what she meant and she replied, "Well, when you came in my heart was broken, and now you've tied it back together again."

 

A little boy was depressed a lot, and cried often. He was black but his mother was white. His father had been black but was no longer around. The little did not feel he fitted in with everyone else around him being white. He did not belong in the world of the white people, and he did not know any other black people so could not fit in to their world either. Even though he was very young, he hated himself, and wanted to die.

The little boy was given good counselling. The counsellor asked him if he liked watching Kermit the frog on T.V. He said Kermit always made him laugh, and was one of his favourite characters. The counsellor asked what colour Kermit is and was told he is green. Next she asked how do you make the colour green and was told it was by mixing blue and yellow.

The counsellor told the little boy that Kermit was special because he was a mixture of two colours, and the little boy was special too because he was just the same as Kermit - a mixture of two colours.

 

A group of professional people posed the question "What does love mean?" to some 4 to 8 year-olds. The answers they got were broader and deeper than they could have imagined.

  1. "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands have got arthritis too. That's love." -- Rebecca - age 8
  2. "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth." -- Billy - age 4
  3. "Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." -- Karl - age 5
  4. "Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." -- Chrissy - age 6
  5. "Love is when someone hurts you and you get so mad but you don't yell at them because you know it would hurt their feelings." -- Samantha - age 6
  6. "Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." -- Terri - age 4
  7. "Love is when my Mummy makes coffee for my Daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." -- Danny - age 7
  8. "Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mummy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss." -- Emily - age 8
  9. "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." -- Bobby - age 5
  10. "If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." -- Nikka - age 6
  11. "Love is hugging, Love is kissing, Love is saying no" -- Patty - age 8
  12. "When you tell someone something bad about yourself and you're scared they won't love you anymore. But then you get surprised because not only do they still love you, they love you even more." -- Matthew - age 7
  13. "There are two kinds of love. Our love. God's love. But God makes both kinds of them." -- Jenny - age 4
  14. "Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." -- Noelle - age 7
  15. "Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." -- Tommy - age 6
  16. "During my piano recital, I was on a stage and scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my Daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore." -- Cindy - age 8
  17. "My Mummy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." -- Clare - Age 5
  18. "Love is when Mummy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." -- Elaine - age 5
  19. "Love is when Mummy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford." -- Chris - age 8
  20. "I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." -- Lauren - age - 4
  21. "I let my big sister pick on me because my Mum says she only picks on me because she loves me. So I pick on my baby sister because I love her." -- Bethany - age 4
  22. "Love is that first feeling you feel before all the bad stuff gets in the way." -- Charlie - age 5
  23. "Love cards like Valentine's cards say stuff on them that we'd like to say ourselves, but we wouldn't be caught dead saying." -- Mike - age 8
  24. "When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." -- Karen - age 7
  25. "You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."-- Jessica - age 8
 

This was written by an 8-year-old, Danny Dutton of Chula Vista, California, USA, for his third-grade homework assignment. The assignment was to explain about God.

One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grown-ups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way He doesn't have to take up His valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.

God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times besides bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because He hears everything there must be a terrible lot of noise in His ears, unless He has thought of a way to turn it off.

God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy.. So you shouldn't go wasting His time by going over your Mom and Dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.

Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church.

Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him. But He was good and kind, like His Father and He told His Father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said "O.K."

His father God appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard work on earth so He told Him He didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So He did. And now He helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing which things are important for God to take care of and which ones He can take care of Himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary only more important. You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.

You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy it's God. Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway

If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids. But you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime He pleases. And that's why I believe in God.

-- Authors Unknown

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