We had a humorous life illustration happen to us today at church. We found evidence that our children really do listen, sometimes closer than we think.
Background:
Annie has recently been very good about apologizing. However, it is often that she misbehaves and then immediately after she is caught she will begin saying "I'm sorry" with apparent sincerity. It has become our habit to emphasize that sometimes "sorry just doesn't cut it." Our intent is that she think before she acts and is not under the impression that anything goes as long as you are willing to apologize.
Illustration:
Today at church, Annie was playing before the service with a young boy named Stone. I don't know exactly what was going on, but in the process Annie's finger got slightly mashed in a door. As the story is recounted to me, Annie says that Stone apologized immediately and admits it was an accident. However, at the time, it did not prevent Annie from coming to her mother in tears seeking sympathy and saying, "Stone said he was sorry, but sorry doesn't cut it."
It was at this point that we had to explain that sometimes, "sorry does cut it."
2 comments:
I'm glad Annie did not say something like, "I'm going to tell my daddy, and he's going to beat up your daddy." This would be humorous if you'd seen Stone's dad. Let's illustrate it like this: I only contacted 2 people when I found out that American Gladiators was making a return to network television, and Stone's dad was one of them.
This reminds me of the story you told me earlier this week, of Annie waiting too long to go to the bathroom. After she "plop, plopped" her way to the bathroom, leaving deposits on the newly-shampooed carpet, she said "I thought you would forgive me."
Yes, sometimes "I'm sorry" does cut it.
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