Kids Say The Darndest Things: When your child is rude
2010 February 5
Q: I was horrified when my 4-year-old daughter stared at my fellow bus passenger, then loudly asked me, “Why does that lady look so funny?” How could I have apologized to the woman?
A: You could have simply said, “I apologize for my daughter. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.” Although you wouldn’t have wanted to scold your daughter in front of others, you might have told her it’s impolite to stare. Later, it would have been a good time to explain to her that staring and saying negative things about others hurts their feelings. By the time a child is 3 or 4, she should be able to grasp these basic principles of courtesy.
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When my grandson was about that age, I took him to an event at our local college (I was a nontraditional student there) He looked at a friend of mine who is in a wheelchair and has a normal sized head but a child sized body. He asked him…”Are you a puppet?” My friend did not skip a beat. He replied, “No Jonathon, I am a real person, just like you.” He apparently understood that Jonathan was still sorting out “real” from “make believe” and did not mean it as an insult. I will always be grateful for the way he handled it.
We should all be so gracious.