Miss Thing had a moment of triumph at the park the other day... she was able to perform a back flip off a trapeze bar while an older child couldn't."I'm five and a half and you're six, and I can do it and you can't? Wow!"
She wasn't intending to rub it in, or make the other girl feel bad, of course - she was just proud of her own achievement. Still, I cringed when I heard her words, but I was sitting too far away to discreetly correct her without everyone present hearing me. Not to mention the fact that in the moment, I wasn't really sure what to say.
I tried to explain the pitfalls of boasting later on that day, but I could tell it was lost on her. She's pretty sharp, so I guess it was my explanation that fell short, rather than her listening skills (although I wonder about those sometimes ;-)
Maybe it was a lesson for me, that the next time I see another child exhibit less than stellar manners, to remember that teaching them proper social skills isn't always easy...
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