Hellobee Boards

@hilsy85: I agree with you. I try to get LO to say "I'm sorry" or "thank you", but I'm not going to ask a hundred times! I don't want to force it just so she says it, I just kindly ask her to, and if she doesn't I do what you do and say sorry for her. Unfortunately we've been working on the "I'm sorry" thing at home alot, since M has been hiting and biting me when she doesnt get her way

24 months, and that was only when I specifically asked her to say it.

Now, at 27 months, she says "I'm sorry, mama" every time she bumps into me, drops something, spills something, etc. It really is the sweetest thing.

It's harder to get her to say it to her friends. Usually she says it a couple minutes after an incident, because she kind of needs to "calm down."

@hilsy85: If she won't say it, I just kind of let it go.

She just started saying it on her own a couple weeks ago.

My lo (22 months) says it all the time in the right context and I've never even asked her to. I don't know where she gets this stuff!

@yellowbird: Daycare? L says 'Thank You' properly which floors me, because I've never once asked her to say it. I wonder if it's something that daycare stresses?

@hilsy85: I handle it the same way as you do, suggesting but not demanding. He has just started unsolicited thank you's at 20m. We haven't had a ton of sorry practice because of our move and not seeing many kids!

@hilsy85: haha LOL!!! And how can you resist that?!

Yes, if she say, hits someone and refuses to say sorry after repeated requests then she goes in timeout. So stubborn & defiant! I only let her out of timeout after she agrees to say sorry and then saids it.

Day Care is big on "I'm sorry" so my 20 month old totally grasps the concept. Immediately after being asked to say "I'm Sorry" she will go to hug the person she hurt/upset and usually verbally say "sorry" as well. But I didn't teach it to her, school did.

LO started saying "i'm sorry" at the 2 year mark but she usually has to be prompted for the things that matter. Once in a while she'll say she's sorry if she spills something on the floor, but she gets really reluctant in saying sorry for something she should be sorry about!

I have no problems making LO say sorry because how else is she going to learn? I won't allow LO to do something inappropriate and then just run off and play as if she did nothing wrong. Maybe i'm the odd person out here but i think it makes them stop and think/understand why an apology is warranted. Of course, it depends on their age/verbal level.

@autumnlove: I always feel like reluctance = they know they did something wrong. hahahaa

@hilsy85: Before LO knew/understood "sorry" i had her give a hug instead.

@hilsy85: LOL, i don't think my LO at 27 months is capable of explaining why yet. I've read that it's between 3 and 5 that they need to start understanding why they're sorry. I do agree about the empty apologies, and just want to clarify that i don't stand over her and yell, "say you're sorry!!" . But i hope that asking her to say "sorry" coupled with an explanation as to what she did wrong will signal that actions have consequences.

We are working on it so she knows that when's she wrong/naughty that the appropriate response is an apology even if she isn't quite getting the grasp. Whenever timeout is over she comes and sits on my lap and we talk about why she was in timeout and she always ends it with a hug/kiss/sorry.

@hilsy85: E is the opposite. The does grassy the concept, however he doesn't say the words. Of he needs to apologize, he will get a look of remorse and then hug someone and lift their head up, and look them in the eye and say, "nice?" Which basically means "are we good?" Haha. I think he probably got it about 2 months ago when I started using timeouts, because at the end of a time out, I'd ask him to apologize, give me a hug and then get up.