Helpful Mom

I’ve been reading this great book called Childwise, it’s by Gary Ezzo, the same author who wrote Babywise.  I highly recommend both books, but that’s beside the point.  What I read that I really liked the other day was his distinction between when a child should say they are sorry or if they should ask forgiveness.  Basically he says that when a child does something accidentally, like spill their drink or bump a friend they should say they are sorry.  They didn’t mean to do it, it was not done on purpose.  But when a child willfully does something that they know is wrong like hit their sibling, that is when they should ask for forgiveness.  There is something in the act of asking for forgiveness that is humbling and can act as a deterrent in the child repeating the behaviour.