15 Forgiveness story ideas, each one a book your child stars in: Letting go of the broken toy, the told secret and the missed school play, so that a sulk turns back into a friend, a sibling or a Papa. Pick one, add a few details, and the illustrated book starts right away.
Every story is painted in a soft, hand-drawn watercolour look, with your child as the hero making the right choice.
ForgivenessRohan borrows Your child's wind-up robot for one afternoon and brings it back with the arm snapped off. Your child is so angry the words will not come. Rohan looks at his shoes. That night Your child remembers that Rohan is the only friend who waits at the gate every morning. Next day Your child brings the robot and some tape and says, 'Fix it with me.' The arm is crooked now, but it waves.
Lesson: A friend is worth more than a robot's arm
ForgivenessYour child told Didi one secret, that the loose tooth was hidden under the pillow to fool the tooth fairy, and by dinner Papa knows, Amma knows and even the neighbour is laughing. Your child slams the bedroom door. Later Didi slides a note under it, saying sorry in wobbly letters with a drawing of a tooth. Your child opens the door. 'Next time,' says Your child, 'promise on the tooth.'
Lesson: A sorry note opens doors that a slam shut
ForgivenessOn the Diwali holiday, cousin Vicky moves his ludo token two extra squares when he thinks nobody sees, and wins. Your child saw. Everyone else is clapping. Your child could shout cheat in front of the whole family. Instead Your child waits, then says quietly on the terrace, 'I saw. Play fair with me next time.' Vicky goes red and nods. The next game is slow and honest, and Vicky loses by one square and laughs.
Lesson: Forgive quietly and the next game will be fair
ForgivenessYour child reads the poem aloud, stumbles on a word, and Sameer laughs loud enough for the whole class to turn. Your child's ears burn for the rest of the day. On the way home Your child sees Sameer alone at the bus stop, and he mumbles, 'I did not mean it.' Your child wants to walk past. Instead Your child sits down and says, 'Then help me practise it.' By Friday they read it together.
Lesson: The one who laughed can become the one who helps
ForgivenessThe neighbour's boy Golu hits a six straight through Your child's bedroom window, and glass falls on the desk where the holiday homework was. Golu runs away. That evening he comes back with his mother, ten rupees and a very small voice. Your child looks at the ten rupees, looks at Golu, and says, 'Keep it. But you help me stick the homework back together.' They do, page by page.
Lesson: Fixing it together mends more than money does
ForgivenessYour child is the sun in the school play and Papa promised the front row. The chair stays empty all through the song. At home Papa is waiting, tired from the hospital shift he could not leave, holding a sunflower. Your child wants to stay angry and does, for a whole minute. Then Your child takes the sunflower and says, 'Sit. I will do the whole play for you.' And does, twice.
Lesson: Forgiving is doing the play again for the one who missed it
ForgivenessYour child leaves the gate open and Nani's parrot flies out. Everyone searches, and by night the parrot is back on the neem tree, but Your child cannot stop saying, 'It was my fault.' Nani sits down and says, 'You have said sorry to me. Now say it to yourself.' Your child whispers it. It feels strange, then lighter. The next morning Your child closes the gate, and feeds the parrot a chilli.
Lesson: Forgive yourself too, and then close the gate more carefully
ForgivenessYour child and Tara have not spoken since the fight over the drawing competition three weeks ago. On Holi morning they end up on opposite sides of the colony lane, each with a pichkari, each pretending not to see. Then a bucket of green water from the balcony hits them both at once. Tara laughs first. Your child laughs second, and rubs pink on Tara's cheek. The fight washes off with the colour.
Lesson: Some grudges only need one bucket of colour to wash away
ForgivenessThe fight with Bhaiya was about the remote and nobody remembers who started it, but neither will speak, and dinner is very quiet. Amma says nothing and passes the rotis. Your child thinks about who should say sorry first and decides it does not matter who is right. 'Sorry, Bhaiya.' Bhaiya says sorry too, so fast it is almost the same word. Amma smiles into the dal.
Lesson: The one who says sorry first is not the loser, but the brave one
ForgivenessYour child is still cross with cousin Anu for breaking the kite two days ago. Dadaji tells the old story of the sandalwood tree that gives its sweet scent even to the axe that cuts it. 'Be like the tree,' he says, 'not because the axe is right, but because you are sweet.' Your child takes the broken kite to Anu the next morning and says, 'Come, let us make a new one.'
Lesson: Be like the sandalwood tree and give sweetness even when hurt
ForgivenessYour child's little sister Gudiya tears the elephant drawing that took the whole Sunday, because she wanted to see the other side. Your child shouts and Gudiya cries so hard the whole flat hears. Later Your child finds her hiding under the table with the two halves. She is only three. Your child crawls under too and says, 'Let us make it a two-headed elephant.' It becomes the best drawing yet.
Lesson: Little hands make big mistakes and need big forgiveness
ForgivenessAman drops the easiest catch of the year and the colony team loses the final by one run. Everyone walks off without looking at him. Your child is the captain and is angry too. But Aman is sitting alone on the boundary wall with his cap over his face. Your child walks back, sits beside him and says, 'I missed a run out last week. Next season, you and me, catching practice.' Aman lifts his cap.
Lesson: A captain forgives the drop and plans the next catch
ForgivenessYour child's best friend Zoya forgets Your child's birthday, the first time in five years. No call, no card, nothing. Your child decides never to speak to her again. Two days later Zoya turns up with a tiffin of homemade cake, and a story about her Dadi being in hospital all week. Your child feels the anger melt like the icing. 'Sit,' says Your child. 'Tell me about Dadi. And bring a spoon.'
Lesson: Ask what happened before you decide what it meant
ForgivenessThe neighbour's puppy runs muddy paws all over the white rangoli Your child made at Nani's doorstep for Onam. Your child chases the puppy out and glares at the neighbour boy, Kannan, who only stands there. Nani says, 'The pookalam is for welcoming. Are you welcoming?' Your child goes still, then calls Kannan back. Together they lay a new circle of flowers, and the puppy sits in the middle.
Lesson: A welcome mat is not a welcome mat if you stay angry on it
ForgivenessDeepak takes Your child's best blue marble in the lane game, and everyone says he cheated. For a week Your child plays on the other side of the lane. Then Deepak's family is moving to Lucknow, and on the last morning he leaves a cloth bag on Your child's step with all six marbles and a note. Your child runs after the tempo, waving, and Deepak waves back until the corner.
Lesson: Forgive quickly, because friends do not stay in the lane forever