Those Pesky Apologies!

My son is having a very tough time grasping the concept of an appropriate, sincere apology.  The other day I told him he had to apologize to his sister for throwing his ball and hitting her in the head.  

Ryan:  "Sorry....SUCKER!"

Me:  "Try again!"

Ryan:  "You shouldn't have put your head in the way of my ball!"

Me:  "And...again!"

Yesterday my son Colin was practicing his trumpet, a brand-new instrument for him.  Very new.  Still very much a work-in-progress, shall we say.  Only a parent can appreciate the sounds of a child practicing something like a trumpet or a violin.  (You know who you are.  Thank you.)

Anyway, Ryan did NOT appreciate it, and he wasn't exactly shy about showing it.

"SHUUUTTTT UUUPPPP!" he yelled.

"Ryan,"  I sighed, "Can you please ask nicely?"

"Will you please SHUUTTT UUPPP!  SHUT UP!  SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

That went well, I thought.

Ella ran up to me crying today because Ryan said her face was 'fat'.

"I meant fat and CUTE."

"RYAN!"

It reminded me of the time Colin accused Ryan of calling him an idiot.

Ryan protested, "I never called you an idiot...you IDIOT."

Sigh.  Back to the drawing board.