Sharing 101

How ironic is it that in the last post I discussed Madeline's sharing issue and today, well, today happened?

On a sad note, Madeline had her first public time-out today at the gym nursery. Boo hiss. Apparently, Madeline and another little girl about her age were playing famously together the entire time until....the other little girl had "the coveted toy"! Madeline pulled this little girl's hair today because she wanted the toy the other little girl had, and of course, the other little girl was not giving it up. Rightfully so, she had it first. Yes, Madeline's first major public offense took place today, and I was mortified when the lady told me about it.

I wanted to beat her little fanny (well, not really!!!!!), and I KNOW that is not the appropriate thing to do in this situation especially since Madeline had long forgotten about the incident. However, the teacher in me came out, and when I fastened her in her car seat, we had a 'come to Jesus meeting' right there in the Gold's Gym parking lot as if I had just taken her into the hallway out of the classroom to have a 'chat'. Even though Madeline had no idea what I was discussing, I felt better for very firmly explaining the concept of sharing and not being ugly to our friends.

When it was all said and done, Madeline smiled, waved, and said "HI" after I was finished lecturing her about pulling hair and sharing toys. Nice. It was all I could do not to laugh. Of course, I bit my cheeks and kept my poker face.

The concept of sharing has definitely moved up on the syllabus for the "Madeline life lessons 101 class" here on Millhouse Lane.