Emily Chan
Some of the most important words your child should have in their vocabulary are “I’m sorry.” When kids break the rules or hurt someone’s feelings, you want them to rectify the situation by uttering those two little words.
However, teaching your child when to say sorry and genuinely mean it isn’t easy. Apologizing is a skill, and lots of kids tend to struggle with learning it for various reasons.
Some don’t like saying it because they have difficulty swallowing their pride. Others may have a hard time seeing things from another person’s point of view and understanding what they did wrong.
Genuine apologies teach kids to identify their mistakes, take responsibility for their actions, and repair relationships. But you can’t just force them to say it.
Otherwise, they won’t learn anything from it and fail to recognize the extent of the harm they caused. Eventually, they will begin to view “sorry” as a magic word they can use as an easy fix and then go back to repeating the same mischievous actions.
So how can you get your child to show true remorse and acknowledge their wrongdoings instead of mumbling a lukewarm apology?
You can begin by explaining when apologies should be issued. Give a concrete example of a circumstance when saying sorry would be appropriate. For instance, stepping on someone’s foot or breaking another person’s belongings would require an apology.
Have your child try to put themselves in the other person’s shoes and ask them how they would feel if they were on the receiving end of those actions.
In addition, show them what a proper apology should look like. Muttering a “sorry” under their breath doesn’t cut it.
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