It Was An Accident

[sharlan]

Anyone else tired of this phrase?

Yes, I jumped off the sofa and landed on another child hurting them. Yes, I know that I am not allowed to jump off of the furniture. Yes, I know that somebody will get hurt if I do that. BUUUUUTTT, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, followed by tears.

As long as it was an ACCIDENT, all is well. Right?

I will break my 5 yo from that phrase if it sends me to the looney bin.

[dEHmom]

yep we are in the same boat with my 5 yo and 6 (almost 7) yo.

because we've often said "it was an accident" when they come crying because they got hurt by someone else.

or the "I SAID I WAS SORRY" because we always tell them, if you hurt someone you say sorry.

They think these 2 phrases are the way to get out of trouble.

ds " mommy dd pinched me"
dd "It was an accident, i said i was sorry!"

grrr

[SilverSabre25]

My problem at the moment is the opposite...getting my group to understand that some things *are* accidents, that they still need to apologize if it was an accident, and that sometimes, things are just plain your own darn fault (like walking behind someone who's swinging and getting bonked by the swing does NOT result in a time out for the person swinging...), oh, and that if I see you hit/push/take first and the second person retaliates in kind, YOU will be the one getting the time out for doing it in the first place!

And that the child across the yard when you fell off the swing on purpose does not get a time out...nor do you...because you just simply fell off on purpose.

Can you tell that I've had an interesting morning? ::

[cheerfuldom]

I am always dealing with this with my 3 year old. She thinks if she says the word "sorry" all is well, which is not the case. We have been explaining that saying sorry means that you are apologizing and also learning that you aren't to do that same thing again. Sorry is not a fix all. We talk about how Mom and Dad would rather have obedience the first time than an apology later. We also don't skip consequences just because she apologized.

[nannyde]

I don't do "accident" or "sorry". It's a get out of jail free card.

[juliebug]

nope not a valid answer!

my son now says
I was wrong what can i do to fix it or make it better?

[spud912]

I have a "sorry" dcb. He will do something wrong, and I will give him a warning (ex: no jumping on the couch or you will not be allowed to sit on it). He does it again and I tell him to get down and he proceeds to say "but I'm sorry!" I just say "that's nice, but you still don't get to sit on the couch."

He usually cries and I ignore, then he eventually gets bored and starts playing again.

[sahm2three]

Anyone else tired of this phrase?

Yes, I jumped off the sofa and landed on another child hurting them. Yes, I know that I am not allowed to jump off of the furniture. Yes, I know that somebody will get hurt if I do that. BUUUUUTTT, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, followed by tears.

As long as it was an ACCIDENT, all is well. Right?

I will break my 5 yo from that phrase if it sends me to the looney bin.

Or, "He made me (hit my head), (jump on the couch), (throw the toy)." Whatever. I am sooooooo tired of the He Made Me excuse! Ugh.

[Hunni Bee]

I get "im sooooooorrryyyyy!!!" and "i wont do it again" screamed at me from time-out, along with 10 minutes of crying.

Just because you are "sorry" and "will never do it again" doesn't excuse you from the consequences of doing it THIS time.

And has anybody else's kids been a bunch of crybaby messes lately?? Maybe its the hot weather, because my patience for it has this short. Do you TO for whining and fake crying? I don't see the point that really, because it usually will result in more crying...but there should be a consequence for purposely making everybody miserable because you can't get your exact way.

I HATE fake/intentional crying . I can deal with fighting better.