Hitting

Dagny's worst habit is hitting. We know where she learned it; her sister is the responsible party. It's to the point of being entirely out of control. We punish her with time outs. We act overly dramatic at feeling hurt when she strikes. We even insist that she apologize and kiss the victim's boo-boo. Nothing seems to reduce her need to strike.

Tonight, as we romped around the family room playing a friendly game of tickling and wrestling (a game otherwise known as grab-ass in my family), Dagny whopped me good, right above the brow. I stopped and asked her, "What do you say?"

She smiled and responded, "Der ya go."

Alarmed, I thought, "What, you hit me and your response is, there you go? What kind of a child am I raising?" So I changed my tactic, "No Dagny, you HIT me. It HURTS. Ouweeee! What do you say?"

"Sorry!" And she leaned over to hug and kiss me, quite sincerely.

Kenny, watching the game on the couch, giggled quite conspicuously. It really was incredulous that our child could respond with a "There you go" after hitting. Like it was all in good fun!