{"id":21644,"date":"2025-09-08T11:44:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=21644"},"modified":"2025-09-08T11:44:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:44:57","slug":"9-year-old-illinois-boy-opens-compliment-stand-to-spread-kindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/09\/9-year-old-illinois-boy-opens-compliment-stand-to-spread-kindness.html","title":{"rendered":"9-Year-Old Illinois Boy Opens &#8216;Compliment Stand\u2019 to Spread Kindness"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_21653\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21653\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/09\/Free-Compliments_credit-CBS-Evening-News-YouTube.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21653\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/09\/Free-Compliments_credit-CBS-Evening-News-YouTube.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21653\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CBS Evening News \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In Sycamore, Illinois, 9-year-old Ethan Wargo has found a simple yet powerful way to brighten people\u2019s days \u2014 by giving out free compliments.<\/p>\n<p>Ethan was inspired while reading his &#8220;Dog Man&#8221; graphic novel. In the story, one of the characters sets up an insult stand. But Ethan quickly realized that wasn\u2019t a good idea.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And then I just got inspired by it,&#8221; Ethan told <em>CBS News<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>So instead of insults, Ethan flipped the script. He opened his own free \u201ccompliment stand,&#8221; handing out kind words to anyone who stopped by.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6rU0GZwRtVc?si=JeB7SttefDqasSrm\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>At first, business was slow. After all, he wasn\u2019t offering cold drinks. But once his dad, Brandon Wargo, posted about the idea on social media, people started showing up for a taste of his uplifting words.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yeah, it&#8217;s really blown up,&#8221; Brandon told CBS News.<\/p>\n<p>Even Ethan\u2019s mom, Jessica, was surprised by how much the simple idea touched people. &#8220;I was really kind of caught off guard by just how strong a reaction people had to it,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Ethan believes kindness has a way of warming hearts. &#8220;It&#8217;s just very heart-warming to them,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, even a 9-year-old encourager has his challenges. &#8220;Sometimes&#8221; I struggle to come up with a compliment,&#8221; Ethan admitted. &#8220;But in those cases, I usually just persevere.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That perseverance and heart is exactly the kind of example the world needs more of. As Ethan put it: &#8220;If you had that idea, I definitely would compliment you on that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One small boy is proving that kindness can be just as refreshing as a cold drink \u2014 maybe even more so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Sycamore, Illinois, 9-year-old Ethan Wargo has found a simple yet powerful way to brighten people\u2019s days \u2014 by giving out free compliments. Ethan was inspired while reading his &#8220;Dog Man&#8221; graphic novel. In the story, one of the characters sets up an insult stand. But Ethan quickly realized that wasn\u2019t a good idea. &#8220;And&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":21653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>9-Year-Old Illinois Boy Opens &#039;Compliment Stand\u2019 to Spread Kindness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Instead of lemonade, 9-year-old Ethan Wargo offers free compliments, refreshing hearts in his Illinois community and beyond.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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