Monday, June 30, 2008

Do Unto Others

I was watching my niece & nephew Olivia & Jack on Friday and not 15 minutes into it Jones and Livi (as we call her) were wrestling over a toy. I asked both of them to let go and step away from the toy but both were not listening. So I physically stepped in and broke up the "fight" and sent both to time out- Livi to sit on the stairs for 2 minutes (she is 2) & Jones to put his nose against the door for 5 minutes (he is 5.) Well, Jones made the mistake of arguing with me which is something Joey and I have really been working on with him so I sent him to the bathroom for further discipline which is how we handle this type of situation. I went into the bathroom to talk with Jones about the behavior and the back talk and here is how it went as I was explaining that Olivia is 2-years-old and he is 5 and instead of fighting with her, he should ask for the toy and if he has a problem with the response he can talk to me about it. Here is how he responded:

"Well Mom, you know how you taught me and read to me about 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you?' Livi was fighting me so I thought she wanted me to fight her."

I followed up the comment on a conversation of "do unto others" vs. "eye for an eye!"

3 comments:

Stephanie said...

What a riot, that is too funny!

Tami said...

HA!! It's so funny to hear how kids interpret what you have taught them. You're a good mom Erin!!

Molly said...

Having a smart kid keeps you on your toes! Blessing and challenge.