the compliment game
Once long ago, when my children LB & Seala were a bit younger, & they first started school…every so often, a turbulent period of name-calling would erupt between them…oh dear!
So those were the times when we would break out the Red Hots or something of that sort, & play The Compliment Game!
We would put out a little bowl of candy, and each child would have to give the other a heartfelt compliment. The other child would say, “Thank you, LB!” or “Thank you, Seala!” After that, they would each be allowed to help themselves to a piece of candy!
So this is how it went each & every single time we played:
LB would start out, being the oldest. At first both kids would still be a little grouchy, so LB would carefully look at Seala, thinking of the best compliment he could muster, & then he would finally say, “Seala, I like your tiny ear!” (We clay balls do have two little, little ears apiece!) To which Seala would smile & reply, “Thank you, LB!”
Then they would both start to laugh a little, & it was Seala’s turn. She would look LB up & down carefully, seriously thinking what she could compliment him on, & then finally, after much thought, she would say, “LB, I like your ear!” He would acknowledge that with a ”Thank you, Seala!” …and then they would both laugh uproariously!
Sometimes they would each be able to squeeze out one or two more compliments apiece, usually along the lines of, “I like the way you burp, LB!” “I like your little eye, Seala!” and then it would turn into a candy-trading, candy-sorting, fort-building, tumbling, laughing, free-for-all…
Oh yes, it was refreshing to have some sweet words for a little while! As time went on, maybe I was imagining things, but sometimes, it did seem that maybe they name-called a bit so that the bowl of candy would appear…but I cannot say that for sure…
In any case, I am hoping lots of sweet words come your way today!
love,
Clay Ball
