Be Yourself!

True story! This is a conversation that went down one day several years ago when I was bringing a few first-grade boys to my area for reading intervention. I’ll use pseudonyms to protect the identities of the innocent.

PETER: I just got a remote control car for my birthday this weekend! It’s big and it goes fast and it’s real cool!

MIKEY: I got a remote control helicopter that is this big (arms spread out as far as he could reach). It’s so big that I have to keep it in the garage. It goes real high and faster than anything!

BRIAN: WOW! THAT’S AWESOME!

PETER: (To Mikey) I got the invitation to your birthday party next weekend. Maybe we could play with your helicopter.

SAM: Me, too! Yeah, maybe we could play with your helicopter!

MIKEY: Well, (after a little hesitation) it’s actually at my grandmother’s house. She has more room for it there.

Mikey was the braggart in the group of boys. Had the other boys been on to him, his friendship could have suffered. What Mikey should know is that his friends accepted his birthday invitation before they heard about the great helicopter. They were going to the party without any knowledge of it. They were going because they liked Mikey for Mikey; not because he had a super cool toy.