Peer Pressure and Remorse: A Life Lesson

Today was raining, and for the last few days Char has been so obsessed with her new Calico Critters doll house from her "Mimi" for Christmas that she hasn't had as much exercise as maybe she could. And she's been waking shortly after 7 am, instead of the 8 am she used to sleep nearly to. So I decided she could use a bit of exercise, and we headed for Chik-Fil-A.

I totally forgot about it being Family Night. We've never been to Family Night before, and she had a blast. There was a person in a cow costume, and a man making free balloon animals, and a face painter also though I knew she wouldn't sit still long enough for face painting. And of course there's the indoor playground which is the BIG draw.

After eating, Char played for about an hour, and then we came out and she wanted to say goodbye to the cow again. There were 2 little girls pulling on the cow's tail, and Char touched the tail, too. Just then an employee stepped in just as I stepped in and explained to her that we don't pull animals' tails because it hurts them. She said, "I'm sorry, cow! I won't do it again!" and we said goodbye and left.

On the drive home, she mentioned a couple of times that she pulled the cow's tail, and she said, "Girls pulled the cow's tail, too". So I told her that if other people do something you know is wrong, you can still say no. She said, "No, girls, you don't pull the cow's tail!" Awesome. Moving on. Or so I thought.

But then we were reading the horrible teddy bear pop-up book before bed (what IS it about that awful thing???) and she pointed to the picture of the cow and said, "The cow's sad!" "Oh, no! Why is the cow sad?" At this point, her lips moved, but I could barely even hear the sound of her lips touching and separating much less the actual air coming out. I asked her to speak louder, and she said, "I pulled the cow's tail and hurt him so he's sad."

Awwwwwww! I told her that she felt embarrassed because she did something she knew was wrong, but that it was okay, she told the cow she was sorry and it doesn't hurt anymore, and that she can always tell me anything even if she did something wrong.

I seriously wonder how much of these "life lessons" actually sink in at this age. Because sometimes she really seems to get it. Even though she did the "wrong" thing, I'm really proud of her for seeing it, apologizing, and learning from it.