[GodChick]

well, it happend again last night.

So, today, while we were having lunch, and in a nice peaceful mood, I talked to her about it. I wasn't sure what to say, because I wanted to assure her that, though T**'s mommy hits him, I would not hit her or her sister, but I didn't want to introduce that thought, if she wasn't already wondering about it, KWIM?

Turns out, she had much more understanding than I ever expected. While we were having lunch, I asked her if she remembered last night when T** was crying at Grandma's house. She did. I asked if she remembered how Aunt L** hit him. She did. I asked if she knew why she hit him. She said, "Because T*** didn't want his food." (Last night when she had asked why T** was crying, T**'s daddy said "he threw his food.") I told him that sometimes people think you can help someone learn something by hitting, and that Aunt L** thought she could help T** learn not to throw his food by hitting him. But that in our family we learn things by talking about them instead of hitting, so I won't hit her like that. Know what she said? She said, "You're good, mommy. When we holler, we go to the mat." (Translation: "when we're having a meltdown, we go to our comfort corner." I've got a mat and comfort items in a bag, instead of set up in a corner, because they kept walking off. ) So, apparently, she understood that this was some form of discipline, and that instead of punitive discipline like that, we cool off in our comfort corner. Wow, she really surprised me with that one. I did NOT expect her to say "you're good, Mommy." That's not really a description was use around here, "good girl" and such . . . but I think she didn't have a better word than "good" to say what she meant.

I don't know if I really did a very proper job of explaining, but she seemed to understand, and I am stunned at the maturity with which she was able to grasp it!