It is bound to happen in the life of all kids and probably more so in the life of adults. We are going to either be offended or offend someone (more likely both) and really not know how to handle the situation after the damage is done.
Every year, just like parents I am sure, I get the Mr.Gilson he said…. or Mr.Gilson she just… countless times. The “go to” advice has been, “ok well stay away from them and I will talk to them”. I do and we work on how the person can fix the damage that they have done. The problem is in the moment they really are not sorry, they are sorry they got caught, they are sorry they got in trouble but they are not sorry for their actions because most of the time they feel they were justified because of some other perceived wrong. It might be tough to hear but adults are the same way.
I just received some new picture books in the mail because I LOVE picture books and one I ordered was “Desmond and the Very Mean Word”. The message of the story is that one can not move on from negative thoughts feelings and inevitably actions without forgiving those who we feel wronged us.Some times this means we might also need to apologize but by forgiving someone for their unkind behaviour we release ourselves from having to think about what they have said and done, we move on and focus on the good things and hope that our example can help the person realize their actions were not kind and they want to apologize so that they too can be free to think about something positive.
My advice going forward will not be ignore them, stay away from them, I will talk to them. It will be, forgive them, move on and lets hope they can apologize and work to make things better. I am going to practice it to.
Things Mr.G says 