What to do when...

your child bites someone.

Yes, it happened today. Maggie bit her classmate because he wouldn't give her a book she wanted. To be fair, Maggie didn't go to sleep until 11p.m. last night after a fun-filled weekend out of town. No excuses, but I can't imagine anything else but sheer exhaustion prompting her to do this.

So how did we handle it?

Well, in class she was asked to apologize then spent some time on the time out rug. When I picked her up from class, I rejoiced at seeing her, praised her artwork, gave her a big hug, then took her to the car to have a heart to heart chat. I asked her what happened, and she gave me a very detailed and honest account. (Phew!) Then I gave her the bad news. When you choose to hurt a friend, you choose to play no board games when we get home.

She tried to mold what I had said into something a little more pleasant; "Yeah, Jack will eat the pieces." "But I didn't hurt Jack!" I clarified for her that she didn't get to play the beloved Candy Land and Curious George Beach game (which is really fun, by the way) because she hurt another person on purpose.

Sad choices=sad consequences.

And she was sad. Did she learn the lesson? I think so. Tonight, during evening prayer time, she asked God to help her be nice to her friends and to make John* feel better.

Mission Accomplished. For today.

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.