Read the Note a Mom Wrote to a Group of Petty Teenagers She Overheard in Starbucks


"You are smart and you are pretty. It would take nothing from you to also be kind," Michelle Icard wrote in a note to three teenage girls she sat next to in her local Starbucks in May 2016. The mom was enjoying her coffee when she overheard the girls gossiping about various "petty" things while they studied, which she said made her skin crawl.

Icard left Starbucks to go shopping, contemplated the incident, and saw that on her way back past the shop the girls were still sitting there — so she decided to order them drinks and write them a note. She approached them and said: "You don't know me but it looks like you're here studying and I wrote you a note of encouragement."

I sat near you today in Starbucks and listened as you talked. You three are obviously pretty and hard-working. I wish your kindness matched your pretty exteriors. I heard you talk about a girl who sang a song about being lonely in the talent show — and you laughed. . . . You sounded so mean and petty.

Icard told People: "I think that girls who are really pretty in high school can use that as a way of hiding bad behavior, it's almost like they feel like they have the pretty card so they can get away with it. I wanted to speak their language, but also to show them that you have a lot of power with that prettiness and you can hide behind it or you can be kind and it won't take anything away from you."