Scripts For School-Age Kids: When Your Child Says Hurtful Things
Why demanding an apology doesn't build empathy, and what to do instead, with exact scripts.
This Week’s Scenario
Two siblings are talking and one of them says the other's idea is stupid. Not screamed. Not even particularly unkind in tone. Just said, casually, the way children say things when they've stopped thinking about the effect of their words. You could tell them off. You could send someone to their room. Or you could use the moment to do something more lasting, which is help them actually understand why it mattered.
Listen to the podcast
When Siblings Say Hurtful Things: The Muslim Parent's Guide
In this episode:
1. Why the instinct to jump straight to punishment or demand an apology after a child says something unkind is the thing that gets in the way
2. What empathy actually requires at this age, and
3. Why keeping yourself out of who was right is one of the hardest parts of the whole conversation.
Scripts
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