Friday evening Sid and his brother were playing around like brothers do when out of the blue Sid said, "I hate you." I didn't hear this myself, but of course his brother did and so did his father. K asked him, "What did you say?" and he kept asking him til he repeated it. That's when I heard. K and I both told him that was a horrible thing to say and that he shouldn't have said it. Not twenty seconds later Sid busted out crying. I was surprised. I don't believe he was crying because he got in trouble but because he felt bad about what he did. He came over to me and I hugged him. I reiterated the fact that what he did was not nice and that he needed to tell his brother that he was sorry. He just cried and cried. He went over and hugged his brother but never said sorry.

Later that night when I put him to bed I talked to him about it some more. I asked him if he liked when people said mean things to him to make him sad. Of course, he said no. I told him if he ever says anything mean like that he should tell the person he's sorry and that he won't say it again.

Fastforward to Saturday morning when Sid wakes up and is making his way downstairs. From the top of the stairs he calls to his brother. He tells him he's sorry. He tells him he won't say it again. I was there in shock. In shock that he remembered from the night before. In shock that he took it upon himself to do what was right. I had to hug him again and tell him how proud I was of him for being such a nice boy. His brother came upstairs and hugged him too.

In the right environment, kids will thrive. They learn so easily and quickly. I'm striving for my home to be the right environment.