Tracy was playing with her friends in the playground. They were playing a game of tag and Tracy was 'it'. She was running around very tiringly as she could not really catch anybody until she saw Abby looking like she was out of breath.
"Tag!" Tracy shouted, "you're it, Abby! You have to catch us!"
Tracy was finally relived after tagging Abby.
"Tracy, let's run somewhere so that she doesn't see us." Hayley suggested.
The two girls then ran somewhere to avoid Abby.
"I will join you girls too!" Jasmine said following the girls.
"Me too!" Ophelia agreed.
But, suddenly the foursome heard a crying sound.
"What happened?" Tracy questioned with concern. "Is somebody upset or something?"
"Oh no! It's Abby." Hayley replied worryingly. "I think we should stop playing and since she's our friend, we should help her and wonder why she is upset."
Hayley walked towards Abby and put her arm around her, "what happened, Abby?" she asked worryingly.
"Tracy caught me and I don't want to be 'it'! Everyone will run away from me. I can't catch people!" Abby sobbed in front of her friends.
"Aww, I'm sorry, Abby." Tracy said rubbing her friend's back. "I didn't know that you didn't like being 'it'. It is the worst part of it. Why don't we have two 'its' so that you wouldn't be one on your own and I will be 'it' with you."
All the other friends thought it was a clever idea of Tracy.
"No! It's not your fault, Tracy." Abby answered sobbingly. "I don't feel like playing tag anymore, I'm leaving. Bye!"
Once Abby left, the rest of the friends felt really sorry and thought they let her down.
"I shouldn't have been too harsh on her." Tracy spoke with guilt, "I feel awful that I upset her. What should I do to make her better?"
"I doubt you made her upset, Tracy." Hayley spoke. "I think I was the one, because I suggested running away from her."
Tracy, Hayley, Jasmine and Ophelia just sat in a circle discussing on how they should make Abby feel better as they were having so much fun playing tag until Abby's crying. It was getting a little late, so everyone except for Tracy stayed in the playground. She felt the worst out of all her friends because of Abby.
Suddenly, Tracy's older neighbour, Jenny approached her wondering why she was looking down.
"You know what that means," Jenny said telling her neighbour, "she's a cry baby. Only little kids cry just because of that. But, big people like us do not cry."
"But, she's quite emotional actually." Tracy answered looking down. "I think I shouldn't have tagged her at the first place. But, I will be a big person and not cry."
Jenny smiled at her neighbour.
The next day, the girls were back in the playground for another game of tag. This time Ophelia was 'it'. She then caught Jasmine and she was chasing Tracy, but without warning there was a piece of rock on the ground which made Tracy slip and fall.
"Ouch!" she cried, "my foot! It sprained!" She was trying so hard not to cry when she was about to.
The other friends stopped and acted really anxiously of Tracy. They then called her parents to take Tracy home.
"I am sorry, Sweetie that you fell." Her mum said feeling apologetic, "I am afraid that you shouldn't play until your foot gets better. It looks sprained."
"But, I want to play with my friends again!" Tracy replied. "I think I am fine!" She tried to stand up, but was in pain and was being very hard on herself to not cry as she listened to Jenny.
The next day, it was a sunny day. Tracy had a very long face as she will miss the fun with her friends. But, suddenly the doorbell rang, it was Jenny.
"Tracy," she said, "all your friends are playing tag in the playground. Come and join them and I am going to play with them too."
Tracy sighed sadly and really tried to not be upset, "no thanks, Jenny. I don't feel like it at all. You can all play without me."
Her parents then noticed that Tracy is not acting normally.
"I'm fine!" Tracy sulked. "I'm a brave big girl. I don't cry."
"It's okay." Dad answered. "You can feel upset. It's really painful."
"Just let it all out, you will feel much better." Mum spoke concernedly.
Mum then suggested that her daughter can watch her friends in the playground so that in a way she can still see them but not to play tag. Sitting in the playground bench with her parents, Tracy looked really downhearted and wouldn't let any tears drop down. She was trying to hold them in.
"Tracy!" Hayley called, "how are you feeling? Are you going to play tag with us?"
"I'm sorry, Hayley. But she fell." Mum answered sadly.
"Yeah, I can't." Tracy replied, nearly sobbing.
She was chanting in her mind what Jenny told her, 'big people don't cry, big people don't cry,,' But, suddenly the clouds emerged the sky and they the sky turned really grey with stormy clouds. It began to rain.
"Look at the clouds, Tracy." Dad spoke, "even clouds cry. Their rain are their tears so if they cannot carry anymore water, they need to cry and let it out."
"Really?" Tracy questioned surprisingly, "But, I don't want to cry. Jenny says that big people don't cry."
"Sweetie!" Mum spoke cheerfully, "it is a very common thing people do when they are sad, hurt and upset. Even adults and parents. When somebody cries, they feel better. You are never too old to cry. People have to cry because of many reasons."
"So does that mean I am allowed to cry?" Tracy asked bursting into tears and began to sob as hard as she could. On the sheltered bench, she was crying her tears and heart out. Her parents were really comforting and hugging her. Even Dad began to cry for his daughter.
"Seeing our daughter cry makes me want to cry too." He sniffed as well. Mum gave the two tissues to wipe away tears.
Mum then asked her friends and Jenny if they would like to come over for tea as they were hiding in another area with shelter.
"Tag was great." Ophelia exclaimed, "until the rain."
"So we will just have to be indoors instead. Thanks Tracy and your parents for inviting us." Jasmine added feeling grateful.
Suddenly, the group of girls and Tracy's parents heard a sobbing sound.
"Aww, Jenny." Tracy said cheering her neighbour up and rubbing her back. "It's okay, we can always play tag when the weather is nice."
"But, I don't want to cry." Jenny blubbered. "It's just that the rain spoiled our tag game."
Mum gave Jenny some tissues and she began to feel better straight away. Everyone then had a great time playing at Tracy's house.
Moral 1: Crying is a common emotion, people of every age group are allowed to have
Moral 2: Never be afraid to cry, and it makes you feel better once you did it
