HuaYang Cheers Up His Friend

Huayang is a five-year old boy who is full of joy.

You can always spot him on the playground, skipping around, smiling and swaying his arms in excitement. So when he sees a child who is sad, he can’t resist…he has to try to help!

The other day, a little girl named Chunchun was crying in the playgroup. Huayang, who has Down syndrome, slowly approached Chunchun, stood in front of her for a few seconds, then cautiously wrapped his arms around her to give her a hug.

Chunchun stepped back, pouted her lips, and continued to cry.

So Huayang stepped back, reevaluated the situation, and decided to try another approach. He reached for Chunchun’s hand and placed his little blue toy car in her hand. But Chunchun was not interested.

Then Huayang tried to be playful. He ran the little toy car on her arm, trying to make her laugh, but still no luck. Chunchun kept crying. He looked towards me, a little bit confused, and I encouraged him. “Huayang, look at what Chunchun has in her hand.” Huayang looked down at the litttle drum with bells. This gave him another idea.

He motioned to Chunchun to put the drum on the ground and then he took his car and tapped it against the drum, to make a ringing sound.

This grabbed Chunchun’s attention and although she still had tears in her eyes, she slowly reached for the car and started playing.

Huayang smiled! He had succeeded in helping his friend cheer up!