Teasing Trouble

Funny and Nice

At the end of the day, all the children line up to go home. Hallie is holding her tooth pillow. Miss Sparks compliments Hallie’s beautiful fairy tooth pillow. Miss Sparks moves on to the next child.

Spencer doesn’t miss the opportunity to imitate Hallie again, “Thank-th, Mi-th Th-park-th.” Hallie whirls around and yells for him to stop it. He continues, “Th-top it, Th-pen-ther!” Hallie stamps her feet. She’s full of rage. She yells right in his face that she’s tired of his bullying and teasing.

Spencer is shocked. He feels terrible. He didn’t mean to make Hallie angry. He tries to think of something funny to say, but he can’t. He doesn’t feel funny at all.

Miss Sparks hurries over. When she asks what happened, Hallie says that Spencer has been acting like a bully. Spencer feels defensive, and exclaims he’s not a bully! A bully picks on littler people and pinches and punches them. Hallie says he didn’t pinch or punch her, but he hurt her feelings.

Spencer sadly apologizes. He was only joking, after all. Hallie responds that his jokes were funny at first, but then he started to make fun of her, and wouldn’t stop. Miss Sparks asks if Hallie tried to tell Spencer how she was feeling. She shakes her head.

Spencer says next time he’ll stop and think before he jokes. Hallie says next time she’ll speak up right away if someone hurts her feelings. Miss Sparks says she’s proud of them. Words can hurt, but they can also help.

The next day, when Hallie shows up at school, Spencer is waiting at her desk. All the other students watch with anticipation. Spencer apologizes for his behavior. He didn’t stop to think how his jokes might make her feel. He shouldn’t have made fun of her for how she looks or talks. And he shouldn’t have said only babies believe in tooth fairies.

Hallie laughs with all the other children. Spencer is wearing the wings from the dress-up closet! He had a sign on his back that read “Tooth Fairy’s Helper.” He was making fun of himself. And then, he pulls out a shiny yellow toothbrush with a big pink bow. He says he wants to give it to Hallie as a gift.

Hallie smiles… she can’t be mad at Spencer anymore. Spencer flutters his wings. It was nice to be funny, but it’s nicer to be nice.