Racers building a jump and finish gate at the Training Ground, mid-laugh, with one racer quietly watching
A young racer at the Training Ground pauses near a finish gate, noticing something feels off as friends laugh nearby
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Raising the Flag

A friend keeps doing a thing that drives your racer a little bit crazy. Then somebody makes a joke about it. It is funny. Everybody laughs, including the racer it is about, and pretty soon it is the joke of the afternoon. But the joke keeps going after the funny runs out, and your racer is the first one to notice.

KindnessCourageFriendshipSelf-ManagementSocial AwarenessRelationship SkillsRubberdale

About This Story

What your child will experience

Your child picks a racer and joins their crew at the Training Ground, where a harmless joke slowly outlives its funny. The story puts your child inside the joke — they laugh, they even do the joke themselves — which is what makes the moment they notice something is wrong feel real.

Through simple choices, your child practices a CBT-style check-in: noticing an automatic thought, reading a body cue, and naming a feeling. Then they decide what to do — not to rescue anybody, but to say something true.

Why this approach helps

This story is built around the idea that your body knows before your words do. By running the check-in twice, children practice emotional awareness as a habit, not a lesson. The story also gently teaches that laughing at something and finding it funny are not always the same thing.

Over time, children who return to stories like this tend to grow a richer feelings vocabulary and more confidence naming discomfort in real-world moments.

What to notice as a parent

  • How your child names the feeling on the key page can reveal how they process discomfort in social situations — peer pressure, group laughter, not-quite-belonging.
  • If they hesitate or pick an unexpected answer, that's worth a gentle "What made you pick that?" — not to correct, just to open a conversation.
  • Their annoyance with the friend at the start is real in the story and never taken back. If your child notices that, it's a great opening to talk about how feelings and actions can be two separate things.

Personalize This Story

Make this story truly special by adding these details:

  • ✓Pick a racer.

Story Questions

Questions your child may be asked while creating this story:

  1. What bugged the main character about what the main character did?
  2. What did the main character feel?
  3. What does the main character do?
Create This Story

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