Today, one of my students called another student a name. He immediately said sorry. Instead of the other student saying anything, she walked grabbed a cup and came back to the table. She smooshed the cup and said “sorry”. I could tell the other child was confused. She then said “I hurt the cup, but I said sorry. Did that fix it? No, so you saying sorry doesn’t fix what you said. Just don’t say or do hurtful things.”
I feel like I’ve learned not just one or two, but three lessons from this. One, when someone hurts you, you don’t have to react. Two, sorry doesn’t fix things and I’m not sure why we think it does. Three, kids listen to us more than we think.