It's the school summer holidays, Tilly and her friends have arranged to meet up at the park.

 

Tilly arrived first followed by Kristina, Zara, Tom and Arjun. Arjun's friend Fiona also came along.

 

"Everyone, meet my friend Fiona," said Arjun excitedly.

 

"Hi Fiona," greeted all the children cheerfully.

 

"Hello," replied Fiona smiling. She had heard a lot about Arjun's friends and was looking forward to meeting them.

 

"Fiona and I are going to the cinema later with my dad," said Arjun. "I asked her if she wanted to come over earlier to my house so we could come to the park together."

 

Arjun's dad smiled and asked the parents if any of them wanted to come along to the cinema.

 

"Thanks, but Tilly's off to a birthday party later," said Tilly's dad.

 

"Kristina's coming home with us for the rest of the day, but thank you for asking" said Zara's dad.

 

"I'm sure Tom would like to come," said Tom's dad looking over at his son.

 

"Yes please!" replied Tom enthusiastically.

 

"Super," said Arjun's dad.

 

"Shall we start with our warm ups first?" asked Tilly.

 

"Yes," replied all the children running over to the field.

 

“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.”

 

 

"Okay then, what are we playing first?" asked Tom.

 

"Sskipping races," suggested Kristina with her usual stutter. She felt very comfortable around her friends when talking as they understand she stutters and they don't make her feel uncomfortable.

 

"Get into position children," instructed Arjun's dad.

 

"Yippee," said Kristina excitedly.

 

The children lined up and Arjun's dad counted to three and the children were off. There was lots of giggling and more running than skipping.

 

As expected, Kristina came first and the children cheered and clapped for her. Kristina felt a bit shy, but enjoyed the attention she was getting as it made her feel special.

 

"What's next?" asked Tilly eagerly whilst doing her little wriggle.

 

"Jumping races next?" asked Tom's dad.

 

Once again the children lined up while giggling ready for their jumping race.

 

"On your marks, get set go," called Tom's dad.

 

The children were very fast with their jumping and it was Tilly who won the race. Tilly celebrated by doing her little wriggle and asked Kristina, Zara and Fiona to join in as the girls were winning!

 

"Keeping active is fun," said Zara.

 

"Time for a quick break now," suggested Tilly's mom.

 

The sun was shining beautifully and the children went over to the bench to collect their water bottles. They sat on the benches comfortably and drank their water.

 

Next it was time for a running race so the children lined up ready to run.

 

"1, 2, 3, go," instructed Zara's dad.

 

"Stop!" said Tom, "my laces are undone." He bent down to tie his laces as he didn't want to fall while running.

 

Fiona coughed a couple of times and said "I'm ready."

 

Zara's dad counted to three and the children started running as fast as their legs could take them. Within a few seconds Fiona started coughing again and stopped running. She sat on the grass as she was having trouble breathing.

 

Arjun's dad went running over to Fiona carrying her rucksack. "Are you okay Fiona?" he asked whilst unzipping her bag and pulling out a small white box.

 

The children stopped running and turned around to see what was happening. They all ran back to see what had happened to Fiona.

 

Although Fiona was breathless she managed to nod at Arjun's dad while taking her inhaler from him. She shook it a couple of times, put it in her mouth and took a puff. She waited a few seconds and took another puff.

 

Kristina got a bit worried and ran over to her dad who held her hand. He told her not to worry as Fiona would be okay soon.

 

After Fiona had finished using her inhaler, Arjun's dad placed it carefully in the box before putting it back in her rucksack.

 

"Are you okay, Fiona?" asked Tom as he kneeled down next to her. "What happened?"

 

"I have asthma," replied Fiona, as her breathing started to become normal.

 

"Why don't you come and sit with us?" suggested Arjun's dad as he knew it was important to take some rest as running may make Fiona's asthma worse. He understood Fiona's asthma symptoms were mild and occur occasionally so rest would definitely help her.

 

"Okay," said Fiona as she walked over to the bench and sat down. Arjun sat with her.

 

The children followed as they wanted to learn more about what had happened to Fiona.

 

"It's good you had your inhaler with you Fiona," said Tom thoughtfully.

 "Does this happen to you at school during PE?" asked Tilly, who had so many questions she wanted to ask.

 

"I keep my inhaler with me all the time," said Fiona. "When I found out I was asthmatic my mom and dad had a meeting with my teacher as we needed to let Miss Harris know what was causing my asthma.”

 

"Fiona went to see her doctor a few times too," added Arjun.

 

"You are very brave," said Kristina, who wasn't so worried now as she could see Fiona was feeling much better.

 

It took me some time to work out what was triggering my asthma and then after visiting the doctor with my parents, we had an action plan for when I did have trouble breathing."

 

"What causes it?" asked Zara.

 

"It's mainly caused by a lot of exercise and being around pets," explained Fiona. "This morning before I came to Arjun's house my mom's friend was walking past our house with her dog. He ran over to me and wanted me to stroke him. My mom was trying to move him away from me but he kept getting closer to me.”

 

"Ahh, I see now why you needed your inhaler," said Arjun's dad. He had been trying to understand how Fiona had become breathless as she wasn't doing a lot of running at the park. It was probably due to the dog getting close to her.

 

"I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you. My mom did remind me to tell you when I saw you, but I was so excited to meet Arjun’s friends," said Fiona.

 

"That's okay Fiona, the main thing is you know what caused it and you did very well using your inhaler,” said Arjun’s dad with a reassuring smile.

 

"Thank you," said Fiona, smiling at Arjun's dad. He was always so caring and had spoken to Fiona's mom a few times about Fiona's asthma as he wanted to make sure he could help if she ever needed to use her inhaler.

 

"You are a very responsible girl," said Zara's dad. He was very impressed by how Fiona had used her inhaler.

 

"Thank you," said Fiona. "The doctor told me that I can still exercise and play and that I also need a balanced diet to help me manage my asthma. I can't have pets though."

 

"Wow, you definitely are very smart Fiona," said Zara.

 

"Right then kids, is it time for some snacks?" asked Tom's dad.

 

"Oh yes please!" exclaimed Fiona who was starting to feel a bit hungry.

 

The parents put the picnic blankets on the floor for the children to sit on and opened their bags which had healthy snacks of fruit, raisins and bread sticks for the children to eat.