Today, Mana learned one of life's indeliable lessons, "You break it, you bought it".
He and one of his buddies at day care decided they would do something exceptionally clever today.
They lifted one of the plastic tables from IKEA, put their weight on the table top, and snapped two legs off the table.
(see below)
After I walked in and discovered what my child had chosen to do today, he and I had to have a chat.
I asked Mana "Did you do this?" in a small voice, he whispered "Yes".
We discussed why he did this (I don't know, we pushed on it and it broke) and the we talked about the consequences.
I sat him down and told him, first things first, you better apologize, and he walked over to Lesia, his daycare provider, with tears in his eye's and said "I'm so sorry Lesia".
I explained to him, when you break something that doesnt belong to you, you have to replace it. When you replace things like a table, things that cost money, you have to earn money or sell something.
One of his favourite things to play with is his Nintendo DS and one of his favourite games is Scribble Naughts.
I told him "Well Mana, you're going to have to sell your Scribble Naughts game so you can get some money to give to Lesia, and replace her table", still teary eyed from apologizing, he nodded his head in agreement.
On our drive home, with his little heart all broken, he said to me "Mummy, are you disappointed in me?" to which I replied "Yes son, I am. But I love you very much".
Somewhat understanding what he had to do Mana decided to empty his piggy bank so he could give his coins to pay for the table.
He wrote a letter to Lesia and we put all his coins in a ziplock bag to take to her tomorrow.
For him, he is learning to sacrifice something he loves (Scribble Naughts and his coin bank) and to understand it's important to take care of other people's belonging's.
Can he comprehend it all right now? I don't know.
But a foundation of accountabilty can begin to form.
He and one of his buddies at day care decided they would do something exceptionally clever today.
They lifted one of the plastic tables from IKEA, put their weight on the table top, and snapped two legs off the table.
(see below)
After I walked in and discovered what my child had chosen to do today, he and I had to have a chat.
I asked Mana "Did you do this?" in a small voice, he whispered "Yes".
We discussed why he did this (I don't know, we pushed on it and it broke) and the we talked about the consequences.
I sat him down and told him, first things first, you better apologize, and he walked over to Lesia, his daycare provider, with tears in his eye's and said "I'm so sorry Lesia".
I explained to him, when you break something that doesnt belong to you, you have to replace it. When you replace things like a table, things that cost money, you have to earn money or sell something.
One of his favourite things to play with is his Nintendo DS and one of his favourite games is Scribble Naughts.
I told him "Well Mana, you're going to have to sell your Scribble Naughts game so you can get some money to give to Lesia, and replace her table", still teary eyed from apologizing, he nodded his head in agreement.
On our drive home, with his little heart all broken, he said to me "Mummy, are you disappointed in me?" to which I replied "Yes son, I am. But I love you very much".
He wrote a letter to Lesia and we put all his coins in a ziplock bag to take to her tomorrow.
For him, he is learning to sacrifice something he loves (Scribble Naughts and his coin bank) and to understand it's important to take care of other people's belonging's.
Can he comprehend it all right now? I don't know.
But a foundation of accountabilty can begin to form.
3 comments:
that's wonderful dayna. i think that's so great! i hope i can do the same for tama as he gets older.
Impressive lesson....I think you will be surprised at how well they comprehend at even a young age....Great job at sticking to your guns and teaching him the lesson...way to go!
Impressive Dayn :)
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