Trick of the Trade - How to Apologize

I don’t know how apologies run in your household, but in mine, it frequently involves a mean-spirited “Forry” (that’s right, they can’t even take the proper time to enunciate the word sorry) blurted in the siblings face and then they proceed to run away in the opposite direction.

No seriousness, no actual meaning behind it. I generally work to get some sort of authenticity behind said apology, often times with a hug instead of words. But there are many times when it simply does not seem worth the battle.

Quite frankly, because the child simply is not sorry. *sigh*

About a month ago I came across this article on Cuppacocoa.

I’ll let you read it over there, PLEASE do, it’s amazing and has great examples of how to teach your children how to properly apologize. But in a nutshell, it has the following guidelines for how to properly apologize:

I created this to put on our refrigerator, as well as one upstairs in the hallway. We just used it and went through why for the first time after my daughter hit my son, for…no apparent reason.

Here’s how it went down:

I’m sorry for hitting.

This is wrong because it hurts people.

I can make it right by kissing brother’s ouchie.

In the future, I will keep my hands to myself.

Brover, (again with the pronunciation, although I am kind of in love with this mispronunciation!) will you forgive me?

That simple! I might even have to use it for myself when I find myself in a place where I owe them an apology. Anywho, I know I’ve been absent from the blog for quite awhile, but I just had to share this and need to remind myself that my blog doesn’t have to be about perfection, simply sharing things that help me as a wife and mom. So, I hope this helps the pitiful apologies in your household turn into something a bit more…sincere. =)