“Yes.

That would help.”

It was such a small exchange.

Once, I might have hidden the paperwork or snapped that I could manage on my own.

I was learning that asking someone to sit with me over a problem did not mean surrendering the right to solve it.

A few weeks later, Poppy came home from school upset.

A classmate had told her that people only did nice things to get rewarded.

Her teacher had started a discussion about kindness after the grocery-store incident, and the remark had stung.