When to Say I’m Sorry
August 13, 2008 – 9:58 am by Ben's MomNow the Spanish basketball team could take another lesson from our preschoolers - when to say I’m sorry! Instead of simply apologizing to the Chinese for the offensive photo which I blogged about yesterday, they are questioning why it has been made into such a big deal. ‘We meant no offense by it…” they say to Yahoo! Sports. Come on - anyone can see why that would be offensive. Anyway, offensive isn’t defined by what the offender thinks, it is defined by what the offended thinks. And - it seems like the Chinese are taking the high road — with no comment. Kudos to them!
As we teach our children to apologize when they hurt or offend another child (or adult), we can take a lesson here. One of the hardest things I have found, is to teach them to actually BE sorry for hurting someone else, even if it was unintentional. Saying “I’m sorry” is the first step, but helping them to understand what sorry means and why it is not nice to hurt someone else is a whole other ballgame. A number of teachers are taking it upon themselves to teach children about their feelings and how to express them - such as Patrice Edwards who works with her 2nd grade class on how to be kind to others. D’Arcy Lyness wrote a great article about Teaching Tolerance with a list of what parents can do. One of her recommendations applies here:
–> Point out and talk about unfair stereotypes that may be portrayed in the media.
She also emphasizes modeling the desired behaviour (aka Practice what you Preach) — which in so doing, we can do our part to make the world a bit nicer! Her article has some great tips - so I really recommend it.
What are you doing to teach tolerance in your kids? Do you think it is important?
