Manners Unexpected

Children can be very rude to each other.  They're not born polite; they're selfish and they don't think of anyone other than themselves until you help them learn otherwise.  Our society expects a level of respect and consideration in most cases and it takes a lot of work to help a child see that by sharing the blocks now, your new friend will let you play with his cool firetruck in the future.

Some days I feel like I'm just trying to keep the peace.  Other days, there are good points.  This morning my son and daughter were working together with some break-apart cars.  The pieces are interchangeable across cars and while my daughter spent lots of time taking the various sections, wheels, roofs off, my son would put them back together into new creations.  They did this at the same table, working with the same items, for some time.

Then, I heard my son say, "here Reese," as he handed her something to take apart.  She took the proffered items and replied, "thank you Greyson," to which my son said, "you're welcome."

So maybe something's getting in through the cracks between the bashing of the heads and the grabbing of the toys and the pushing and the shoving and the yelling of, "walk away!" to the other child.

The Big Boy Update:  His birthday is coming up and we decided to go with a Cars movie theme.  My son was so into the movie, Lightning MacQueen, Mater and all the other characters for so long that it made sense.  But now that the invitation's been sent out, he seems so over it.  He's moved on.  But we have the cake pan.  So it looks like he's getting a Lightning MacQueen party.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I don't think she knows there's a difference between, "milk" and "chocolate milk".  My son never asks for milk, he always asks for chocolate milk, or as he says it, "chocolate nook".  They don't get chocolate milk all the time, but that's what he wants so that's what he asks for.  My daughter, who must think he knows what he's talking about, asks for, "chocolate milk" even though I think she prefers regular milk.