One day, a little girl called Kristina was busy tidying her bedroom.

Today was the first day of the school summer holidays and Kristina had promised her dad that she would try to keep her bedroom clean.

 

She knew this was going to be a difficult challenge as she wasn't very good at keeping her bedroom tidy!

 

 

After tidying her bedroom Kristina washed her hands, remembering to make lots of bubbles and rubbing between her fingers.  Her dad had told her that keeping her hands clean was super important!

 

After washing her hands and proudly telling her dad her bedroom was tidy, she sat down to watch television while waiting for her friends to come over.

 

Kristina and her dad were both giggling watching a children’s show when the door bell rang.

“Sounds like your friends are here Kristina," said dad as he went to open the door with his daughter following impatiently behind him.  "Hello Zach, hello Tilly," greeted Kristina and her dad. 

 

"Hello," replied the children as they made their way in.

 

 

Zach's mom, who had dropped Tilly and Zach off, arranged with Kristina's dad to collect the children at 4 o'clock. 

 

"See you later kids and have a great time," said Zach’s mom, blowing them kisses.

Kristina had put some board games ready to play on the dining table.

 

“Ccome on let's play," she said softly.  Kristina has a stutter so sometimes it can take her a few extra seconds to complete her words.

 

The children sat at the table ready to play just as Kristina's dad placed a big plate of fruit and 3 glasses of water on the table. 

 

"Have fun kids and remember to eat some fruit and drink your water," he said before settling down comfortably on the sofa to read his newspaper.

"Tthanks dad," replied Kristina with a sparkle in her eyes.  Kristina loves her dad very much.

As the children started playing, Kristina was in the lead. 

 

"Wow Kristina, I think you're going to win this game!" said Zach.

"What's the matter Kristina?" asked Tilly looking puzzled, Kristina didn't look too happy considering she was winning.

 

 

 "I just get a bit ssad sometimes," replied Kristina.

 

"Why?" asked Tilly and Zach, who were both beginning to look a bit worried for their friend.

 

"When I stutter you don't make me feel uncomfortable," said Kristina pausing for a few seconds.  "There are a few children in my class who mmake me feel uncomfortable because of my stutter."

 

"I try not to let them make me feel sad and my ddad says I should ignore them, but sometimes I get a bbit upset," explained Kristina.

 

 

"That's not very kind of them to make you feel upset," said Zach looking a bit sad himself.  "I know sometimes some people can be unkind if you are not like them," he said looking at his wheelchair.

 

Kristina's dad was listening to the children and felt quite helpless hearing how his daughter was feeling about her stutter and also about how Zach felt.

 

"Well, you just have to ignore them!" said Tilly looking a bit annoyed.  Tilly's a very intelligent girl and always treats all of her friends in the same way.

 

"Your stutter is a part of who you are and we understand that, don't we Zach?” asked Tilly.

Tilly got up and gave Kristina a big hug, "we love you just as you are," she said doing her little wriggle and then sitting back down.

"Yes," replied Zach, "just like my wheelchair is a part of who I am.  I am proud of myself and I don't let anybody upset me.  We might be different on the outside, but on the inside we are all the same and have feelings."

 

"Yes, you are both right," said Kristina cheering up a little bit and smiling at her friends.

"How would those children feel, who are upsetting you if they had a stutter and people weren't being nice to them?" asked Tilly impatiently.  She hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "I'm sure they wouldn't like it."

 

Kristina’s dad put his newspaper on the coffee table and walked over to Kristina and gave her a hug and gently patted Zach's shoulder.

"Kristina, your friends are right," he said looking so proudly at Zach and Tilly.  "Your parents must be so proud of you both, you are such kind, caring and intelligent children.  I'm so pleased that Kristina has such wonderful friends," he said as he pulled up a chair to sit next to his daughter.

"We must always remember not to hurt anyone's feelings and if there's something upsetting you or bothering you, it's important to be brave and talk to somebody who you trust," said Kristina's dad with a reassuring smile.

 

Just then, they heard the ice cream van outside and Kristina's dad said, "let’s scream because it's time for…"

 

"Ice creams!" screamed Tilly, Zach and Kristina.

 

It looked like Kristina's dad was more excited than the kids who were giggling at him.

 

"Your dad is super duper cool!" declared Zach.

After washing their hands they all had an ice cream and went into the garden.  It was a lovely sunny day and while they ate their yummy ice creams they all chatted about their favourite flavours and how delicious their ice creams were.

 

Zach had strawberry sauce on his nose which the girls found quite amusing.

After they finished eating their ice creams and Zach had wiped his nose, Kristina's dad asked if they wanted to play catch.

 

“Yes!” shouted all 3 children who were very good at catching. 

 

“Let's do our warm ups first," suggested Tilly. 

 

"What warm ups do you do?" asked Kristina.

"We will teach you our warm up song," said Zach excitedly, "it's really easy to remember.  Danny and Tom helped me to remember it when we played at the park."

 

"Okay," replied Kristina who was quite eager to get involved.

Kristina's dad was also interested in learning the warm up song and joining in, he’s such a big kid!

 

“1 2 3 4 5 clap your hands and touch your toes

6 7 8 9 10 turnaround and stretch your arms

Let’s jog on the spot

And be a robot

Now that we’re all done

It’s time to have some fun.”

 

After doing their warm ups, Kristina's dad reminded the children why warm ups are important.

 

"Warm ups help us to be more flexible," he said, "so it's easier to move around and reduce the risk of any muscle pain."

 

"You kids have done a great job, well done and I noticed you were pretending to swim with your arms Zach while we were jogging on the spot.  That was very good young man, brilliant work."

 

"Thank you," said Zach, whose face was glowing as he enjoyed the warm ups and being praised.  "Can I show you my batting skills which I've learnt playing with Danny and Tom before we play catch?" asked Zach excitedly.

"Yes, of course you can Zach" replied Kristina's dad.  "Did you bring your cricket bat?" 

 

"Yes" replied Zach, "I left it in the hallway."

        

"Great, I'll go and get it," said Kristina's dad as he went inside to fetch it.

 

"Keeping active is fun!” said Kristina as she got onto her trampoline.

 

“Go easy on Kristina's dad Zach," chuckled Tilly as she also got onto the trampoline.  Tilly knows how good Zach is at batting and felt quite sure that Kristina's dad was going to be in for a surprise.

 

 

"I will try my best," said Zach smiling at his friends.