Little girl leaves cryptical scribbled note for neighbor boy: "If you want me to like you..."

Children don’t always express themselves the way adults do, and that’s part of what makes their actions so striking. There’s a kind of innocence in how they process emotions, whether it’s frustration, affection, or something they don’t fully understand yet. And when they want to get a message across, they tend to find their own way, like two little girls who wrote a cryptic note not just for the boy it was meant for, but for the entire class. The note was left outside the home of Reddit user u/china_rider, who shared in the post, "Some neighborhood kids have been setting off my ring doorbell and running away for the last 4 hours. They just left a note."

The user shared the photo of the note, folded and stapled into a little diary, addressed clearly on the front, "If you are not Brayden, do not read!" Inside, the message came from two girls, Sophia and Reya, who had something to say, "Dear Brayden, This is Sophia and Reya. We came to your house and yeah. No offence, but if you want to like me, you have to be nicer to the class, not just me. But if you are nice, maybe I can like you too!" A large heart surrounded the phrase "be nicer," and smaller hearts filled the corners of the page. Now, this form of communication might sound like a one-off moment, but it actually lines up with how children often communicate.

In a study by the University of Birmingham that looked at more than 100,000 stories written by kids aged 7 to 13, researchers found that children’s writing carries a surprising amount of emotional weight. As they get older, they tend to use fewer positive words and more negative ones — but overall, their writing helps them process how they feel. The study also concluded that girls' writing read more positively than boys', but across the board, writing gave children a way to work through emotions they might not be able to say out loud. 

The post drew attention, with over 3,300 upvotes and a wave of comments from people amused by the actions of Sophia and Reya. u/Smartbutt420 wrote, "That’s hilarious. Hopefully Brayden gets the message." u/UniversalMinister said, "Braydin/Braden, we're all hoping that you can finish the year with niceties and that additional notes will not be necessary. Good luck on your adventure to nice land." u/thtothrdude added, "Dammit Braydin, if you don’t get your act together she is going to have to leave you for Ayden, Caden, Drayden, Graden, Heighdyn, Jaeden, Kaiden, Laydin, Paeydon, Quaden, Raedin, Treydon, Veidon, Zaighdin, or, worst of all, Liam." u/Libam31415 wrote, "I love that Sophia is using her powers to help out the whole class."

u/uberdilettante commented, "So many things to love about this note! I’d love to talk to Sophie and Reya to hear the story behind this." Some had their own suggestions on what to do next. u/Rachet83 joked, "You gotta leave a note in response! 'Braden does not live here. Therefore, no one read this.'" u/Nyetoner added, "Brayden probably lives in the neighborhood, so you should try to find him because he has an important lesson to learn if girls are going to like him in the future!!"