I gave my young friend Justice a compliment the other day when we were working on a jigsaw puzzle together.  She replied with a comment to the effect of, "I'm not really that good at it."  

I gave her two more compliments on how great of a jigsaw puzzle solver she was (which she is - so much quicker to see where the pieces go than I am).  She gave both of those compliments back to me as well.  

How many times do we all give compliments back?  "That's such a pretty sweater."  "Oh, this old thing?  I just grabbed it out of the closet."  "Those brownies are delicious."  "Not really, I cooked them a little too long."

I looked at Justice and I said, "I feel sad and little hurt."  She wanted to know why and I said, "Because you are giving my present back to me.  A compliment is a gift, and when you give it back to me, it says that you don't like my gift."

She thought for a minute.  I then said, "Next time I give or someone else gives you a compliment, just try saying 'thank you'."  She did.  And then she did again.  And then we were both smiling because it felt better.  The gift was given and happily received.