My Wonder Studio

“Hold the railing!” Grandpa Jake instructed, arriving just in time to steady Tristan and prevent him from falling.

“Oh no!” Derek looked worried. “I didn’t want you to fall.”

Tristan silently made his way down the tower.

Grandpa Jake led the two boys over to a bench on the edge of the school playground. “So, which one of you would like to tell me what happened up there?” he asked.

Derek began to cry. “I’m sorry,” he said. Tristan started to cry as well.

“I know that you’re both sorry about what happened,” said Grandpa Jake, “but you see, arguing and fighting doesn’t solve anything. Tristan nearly had an accident, and that would’ve been a nasty fall.”

“Thank you for saving me, Grandpa,” Tristan said.

“I’m glad I was there in time. Well, maybe I can help you boys remember this lesson.”

“Are you going to tell us a story?” Derek asked eagerly.

“Yes. And it’s about something similar to what happened to you two today.”

A large digger and a dump truck rumbled their way down to a bumpy plot of land. They’d been assigned to level the earth so that a playground could be built.

Dump Truck, or Dee, as his friends called him, sighed as he made his way over the mounds of dirt. He wasn’t looking forward to a long day in the hot sun, carrying one load of dirt after the other. Dugs, on the other hand, enjoyed working on playgrounds. He could already imagine what it would look like when they were done!

“Let’s get started,” Dugs said cheerfully. “We can start on the left and work our way through.”

“Fine,” grumbled Dee as he backed up in position for Dugs to load him up with earth.

“Here comes a big load,” Dugs said, lifting his full blade of earth and dumping it out on Dee’s truck bed.

Dee let out a grunt. “I think that’s all I can take for now. I’m off to dump this dirt.”

“But your bed is only half full,” Dugs said.

“Well, it’s full enough for me.” With that Dee rumbled off to unload the dirt on the outskirts of the soon-to-be playground area. But he hadn’t properly latched the back of his truck bed. As he drove along, every time he went over a bump, his truck bed would bounce, spilling dirt and leaving a trail of dirt piles along the way.

When Dee made his way back, Dugs wasn’t happy. “You’re going to make me work twice as hard, Dee,” Dugs said. “Now I’m going to have to go back and pick up all the dirt … again!”

“Maybe you didn’t load it on me properly. So maybe it’s your fault.”

“Is not!” Dugs said, getting angry.

“Look, Dugs,” said Dee, “so far I’ve been doing everything you’ve been saying, and I’m getting tired of listening to you. Maybe I have some ideas of how we should work.”

“You do?” Dugs asked. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Ummm…,” stuttered Dee. “I didn’t feel like it.”

“Well, I’m the one who’s worked on playgrounds before, so I do know better,” Dugs shouted.

“No, you don’t. You just think you’re better than me.”

“Well, maybe I am.”

“No way!” replied Dee crossly.

While they’d been arguing, Dugs had still been loading Dee’s truck bed with dirt. Dugs lifted his backhoe full of dirt to load on Dee, but Dee, being upset, roared away just as Dugs let go of the dirt. The large scoop of dirt landed on the ground.

Dee laughed aloud.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Dugs said.

“Well, I thought we should have the dirt there … instead of on my truck bed. And you know what else? I think the rest of this dirt on my truck bed should go over here.”

Dee backed up right over to where Dugs had carefully removed the dirt from the ground and tipped his truck bed, causing all the dirt to pour on the ground.

“That’s it! I’ve had it with you!” Dugs lowered his backhoe and roared towards Dee, who was still laughing while he dumped the dirt out.

Dugs charged toward Dee and tried to scoop the dirt back up onto the truck bed, but because Dee had it slanted at an angle, there was nothing Dugs could do. Dugs was very angry. He backed up and then charged at Dee again, only this time he secured his backhoe under the tipped truck bed and started to lift his scoop.

Dee stopped laughing as he started to tip forward.

“Stop it! Stop it!” he shouted. “You’re going to tip me over.”

“That’s enough, you two,” called Mr. Oversite. “Dugs, put Dee down!”

“Didn’t I assign you two to level and remove the dirt from here?” asked Mr. Oversite.

“Yes,” they both answered in a whisper.

“So why aren’t you doing it?”

“We couldn’t agree on how to do it,” Dee explained.

“Well, if you two don’t work together on this job, it’s not going to get done, and you’re going to have to spend more time on it. Is that what you want?”

“No,” answered Dee and Dugs.

“I want you both to talk about it and work out how you’re going to get this job done. Okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

Dugs and Dee spent a few minutes talking. Once they’d decided on a plan, they got to work and happily worked together until the job was done.

As the sun was setting, Mr. Oversite came to check out how things were going. “I’m so impressed!” he exclaimed. “You got the job done quicker than I’d expected. And it’s the best job I’ve seen done in a while. I’m glad you two worked things out.”

“We are too,” said Dugs.

“I’ll see both of you tomorrow morning,” said Mr. Oversite. “There’s still more work to be done, and I can use a good team that works together.”

“We’ll be here,” Dee and Dugs said.

“That was a good story, Grandpa,” Tristan said. “Derek and I should’ve worked things out rather than fighting.”

“That’s true,” said Grandpa Jake. “Fighting and arguing don’t solve anything. And when you talk things over, you'll find out that it's not so hard to work things out.”

“Oh, there you are, Derek. I was looking for you.” It was Derek's mom.

“Grandpa Jake was telling us a story,” Derek said.

“I'm so glad,” Derek's mom said. “Thank you, Grandpa Jake. How about on the way home you tell me all about it, Derek?”

“Okay. Bye, Tristan and Grandpa Jake,” said Derek with a wave. “I'll see you tomorrow at school.”

“I'll play whatever game you want to play then,” Tristan said as Derek left.

“That was nice of you, Tristan,” Grandpa Jake said when Derek had gone. “Should we head on home?”

“Yes.”

Moral: Take the time to work out disagreements in love. If you talk things out, you can resolve your differences and find solutions.

“Well, you'll find it takes a lot longer to eat when you're playing with your food. If you have good manners and don't play with your food, then eating doesn't take that long. Did you ever hear of Manners Manor, Tristan?”

“No,” answered Tristan.

“That might be just the perfect story for now,” Grandpa Jake said thoughtfully. “But you'll need to eat up before I can tell you the story.”

Tristan sat up straight and removed his elbows from the table, scooped up some mashed potatoes and peas and took a large bite.

“Excellent!” exclaimed Grandpa Jake. “If you take bites like that, you'll be done in no time. Let's see now … Manners Manor.”

Bumble had a difficult time sitting still at mealtimes and eating nicely. No matter how often her mother insisted that she sit still and eat properly, Bumble seemed to forget, and instead she wiggled about in her chair, leaning on her elbows, and chewing with her mouth open.

She'd get up from the table without being excused, and when there was food she didn't really like, she would take a very long time to eat it.

At almost every meal, Bumble left a big mess on the table, her clothes, and the floor. Her mother would remind her of the importance of having good manners. Bumble would apologize, but by the next meal, she had forgotten what her mother had said.

One evening before dinner, Bumble's mother announced that she had something special for her and handed her an envelope.

Bumble opened it and pulled out a beautifully written invitation:

“Who are Lord and Lady Manners, Mom?” Bumble asked.

“They're friends of ours,” Bumble's mother said, “whom you'll meet at the banquet. It's a special occasion, and those who attend must have only the best table manners.”

“Then maybe I shouldn't go,” Bumble said with a sigh. “I don't have very good manners.”

“This is a wonderful chance to learn! You have two weeks before the banquet to work on your manners.”

Bumble brightened up, and together they made a list of manners that Bumble could improve.

Bumble was so eager to be a good example of being polite and having good table manners that she made an extra effort at every meal. Soon Bumble began to enjoy her mealtimes more. By the time of the banquet, Bumble was ready.

“Good evening, Lady Bumble,” the butler said as he greeted her at the door of the manor. “It’s a pleasure to have you here tonight.”

“It’s nice to be here,” Bumble replied.

Bumble looked around the room and noticed that many of her friends were there too. She saw Dixie and Suds across the room and was about to call out to them when she remembered. Oops, I shouldn’t call out like that! Mother told me that it’s not polite to shout in company like this.

Bumble walked over to her friends. Each one explained about the invitation and how they had worked on their manners. “Do you know who Lord and Lady Manners are?” Milton asked.

“My mother said they’re friends,” Bumble replied.

No one else seemed to know anything else about Lord and Lady Manners, but they were excited about meeting them.

Suddenly, there was a brief chime of a bell, and the butler announced that dinner would begin. They entered the dining room and saw a long table, well laden with food. Each place at the table was set with special care, with a different plate, napkin, and silverware set. There was a name card by each plate.

Bumble saw her name card and was about to sit down, but then she noticed that the plate, napkin, and silverware at Dixie’s place were in her favorite color.

“I want to sit where you’re sitting!” Bumble demanded.

“But this is my seat,” Dixie replied. “My name card is here.”

Bumble grabbed Dixie’s name card and switched it with hers.

“Don’t be mean. This is where I’m meant to sit, and that’s where you’re meant to sit.”

But Bumble wanted to sit in Dixie’s place. Just as Dixie was about to sit down in her chair, Bumble pulled the chair out from under her. Dixie hit the floor with a thump. “Ouch!” she cried. The whole room went silent, and everyone turned to look at Bumble.

Oh dear! Everyone is looking at me, Bumble thought. She felt bad.

“Dixie, I’m sorry,” she said, apologizing. “We’re here because we’ve learned to be polite, courteous, and well-mannered. What I did wasn’t good manners at all.”

“That’s okay,” Dixie said. “I forgive you.”

Just then Lord and Lady Manners entered the room and took their place at the head of the table.

“Welcome, dear friends!” Lord Manners announced. “We’re so happy that you could join us. This special dinner is in recognition of your efforts to have good manners.”

“Courtesy, being polite, and good manners are important habits to learn,” Lady Manners added. “And we are happy to share this evening with you.”

The meal began with everyone using their very best manners ever.

“Don’t Lord and Lady Manners look familiar?” Wesley asked Bumble. “In fact, I think Lord Manners looks a lot like Mr. Nuggin.”

Bumble looked over at Lord and Lady Manners. Lord Manners caught her eye and winked. It was Mr. Nuggin and his wife.

The next morning at school, Mr. Nuggin entered the classroom whistling his favorite song.

“Good morning, Lord Manners,” the students chorused happily.

“Aha, I see you’ve found out!” Mr. Nuggin replied with a chuckle. “Did you all enjoy yourselves last night?”

“Yes, we did!” the students answered.

“Are you really a lord, Mr. Nuggin?” Bumble asked.

“Well, not really,” said Mr. Nuggin. “But because I knew how hard each of you has been working on learning better manners, I wanted to do something special for you. So, with the help of your parents, my wife and I planned last night’s banquet.”

“It was a wonderful idea, Mr. Nuggin!” Dixie exclaimed. “Thank you so much!”

“That was a lot of fun,” Tristan said, as the story ended. “Maybe we can have a pretend Manners Manor like they did and invite all my friends.”

“That’s a wonderful idea!” Grandpa Jake said.

Moral: When you have good manners, it makes others happy, because it shows them love and respect.

He turned it on and off a couple of times, but because it was still light outside, he couldn't see how bright the flashlight was.

Hmmm … I know! Troy thought to himself. It'll be darker inside the sleeping bag.

Troy climbed into Chantal's sleeping bag and switched the flashlight on and off, on and off.

Chantal had been playing outside, and then she walked towards the tent and saw a light going on and off inside her sleeping bag. “What are you doing in my sleeping bag?” she asked Troy angrily. “And who said you could use my flashlight?”

“I-I just wanted to see how your flashlight worked,” Troy answered.

Chantal angrily reached out to grab the flashlight and noticed the light slowly fading. The flashlight batteries had died!

Chantal burst into tears. “I'm going to take your batteries now,” she said to Troy.

She leaned over to get Troy's flashlight, but he was quicker than she was. He took his flashlight and ran away.

Chantal went to Grandpa Jake and told him what Troy had done.

“I'm sorry your batteries are dead, and I'm sad about what Troy did, as it wasn't right,” Grandpa Jake said. “But there are better ways to solve problems than getting angry. It's important that you work things out the right way.

“Why don't I tell you a story about Suds and Dixie, and what happened when they got into a similar situation?”

Dixie loved to paint. Her favorite things to paint were flowers and butterflies because she could make them bright and colorful! Dixie didn't only paint on paper; she would also paint pictures on large leaves, pieces of bark, or on see-through plastic to make her own stained-glass decorations.

Mr. Nuggin had asked his students to bring to class something they had personally made. Dixie brought some of her favorite paintings, Suds brought colored soap bars, and Wesley brought a matchstick house. The students took turns presenting their artistic creations.

As Dixie was leaving school, she saw Suds' soap bars. Suddenly, Dixie had an idea. I could paint pictures on a soap bar and decorate it for my mother!

When no one was looking, and without asking Suds, Dixie took one of the soap bars.

“You stole my soap bar, Dixie!” Suds cried out the next day when she saw Dixie painting and decorating the soap.

Dixie hadn’t realized that Suds had come to visit her, and she was surprised to see Suds standing next to her. She quickly tried to hide the soap bar.

“You're the one who took my soap bar! And now you're messing it all up.”

“I'm not messing it up. I'm decorating it.”

“Give it back to me,” Suds said.

Dixie shook her head. “I've worked hard to decorate and paint it, and I'm going to give it to my mother as a gift.”

Suds was very upset. Then she saw a bag of shells that Dixie had been collecting. When Dixie wasn't looking, Suds grabbed the bag of shells and quickly left Dixie's den.

I'd better hide these shells, Suds thought as she hurried home, stuffing the bag in her pocket.

When she got back to her den, Suds went to her room to find a place to hide Dixie's shells. Suddenly, she heard her mother's voice and quickly put the bag under her bedcover, but the shells made the bedcover look lumpy, so just before her mother came into the room Suds sat on the shells.

But as she did, she realized she had made a terrible mistake.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

“Have you seen your brother?” her mother asked.

Suds shook her head quickly.

“Well, if you do see him, please tell him he needs to finish his homework.”

When her mother left, Suds carefully looked into the bag and saw that several of the shells were broken. Oh dear! What am I going to do? she thought. Dixie is going to be so angry at me. But then Suds thought, Dixie did take my soap without asking, so it serves her right that some of her shells got broken.

A few hours went by. The more Suds thought about the shells, the worse she felt. Maybe I should tell Dixie, she thought, but then she decided against it.

That night when her mother came to tuck her in, Suds was feeling very sad.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” her mother asked.

Suds told her mother what had happened with Dixie’s shells. “I don’t know what to do,” Suds said with a sob.

“It’s always best to be honest,” her mother answered. “Dixie will probably be sad, but it’s better that you tell her. You were upset that Dixie took your soap, but you shouldn’t have taken her shells. And doing that got you into a mess.”

Suds gave her mother a hug. “I’ll tell Dixie about her shells tomorrow.”

* * *

“Dixie, yesterday I took your shells from your room when you weren't looking,” Suds began. “I was so angry at you for taking my soap that I wanted to make you feel bad, too.”

“You took my shells?” Dixie asked angrily, grabbing the bag of shells Suds was holding out to her.

“Yes, and I'm so sorry that I accidentally broke some of them.”

Dixie looked into her bag of shells and cried when she saw that some of her shells were broken. “Oh, Suds, some of these were my favorite shells,” she said.

“I'm so sorry,” Suds replied.

Dixie thought for a moment. “I'm the one who should be sorry,” she said. “I should have asked you before taking your soap. But instead, I only thought about myself and what I wanted.”

“I forgive you,” said Suds. “You can keep the soap bar, and I have another one for you too if you want.”

“Thank you so much. I have an idea of what we can do with these broken shells. We can decorate a box by gluing the broken shells to the outside of the box. It can be our friendship box.”

The two friends hugged and happily set out to find the necessary items to make their friendship box.

“I'm sorry for wasting your batteries,” Troy said to Chantal. “You can use my flashlight if you'd like.”

“I forgive you,” Chantal said. “And I'm sorry for getting angry at you.”

“Well, that's much better,” Grandpa Jake said. “You know, I might have an extra set of batteries that you can use, Chantal.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Make sure that you use your flashlights only when you need to, and then your batteries will last much longer.”

“Thank you, Grandpa Jake, for helping us work this out,” Chantal said.

“And thank you for the story,” Troy added.

Moral: Think about how the things you do will make other people feel, and treat others as you'd like them to treat you. If you make others happy, you will be happy too.