Tonight when I put William to bed, I sat down next to him and said, "Today while you and Drew were at school I took Lauren to the park. There was a little boy there, he was probably about 5 years old. He was being really mean to Lauren. He started by laughing at her, then he pushed her, called her stupid, and made her cry." William sat up, looked really distressed, and said, "I'd kick his butt if I saw him." I said, "I asked him to stop and he didn't. Then I told him in a stern tone to stop it, that she is only 3 years old and it was really mean to talk to another person that way." William said, "Where was his mom?" I told him that she was over on another bench not paying attention. He said, "Well that's terrible and that little boy should get in trouble and apologize to Lauren. He's lucky I wasn't there."
Then I said, "You know what? I totally just made that story up."
William laid down while smiling and staring at me and he said, "That little boy is me, isn't it?"
We then talked about how it makes Lauren feel and how as a big brother his job is to protect her and care for her, just as he would if it had been another kid treating her that way.
He got it.
Now, I'm not delusional. I fully expect tomorrow to be a normal day, full of refereeing, but I feel like I can forever fall back on this little story. The Boy Who Forgets Nothing will be able to draw upon those feelings he had while I was telling him the story.
Mission accomplished.
Well done mama!! I'm totally going to try that on my two boys!! Thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDeletei think i need to try that with my son.. while he isn't mean (verbally) to his little sister he just wants nothing to do with her.. or doesnt want her in his space. in the mean time, she does everything possible to try and get his attention. oy.
ReplyDeletegood job, and who knows? he may remember your story next time he thinks about being mean to his sister :)