Bleu's First Apology Letter

After school today we ran into a couple of friends at the bakery and all walked back in the same direction. Bleu and Ella love to pause on the library hill and plant sticks in the mulch around the flagpole. It is their garden. Today was no different, except another three year old from class joined the girls and decided it was way more fun to pull the sticks from the garden and throw them on the lawn.


Bleu's protective instincts came out full force, and the second time the boy pulled her sticks out of the ground she pushed him away. He was just having fun and immediately did it again. He wasn't afraid of her. No m'am. Bleu hurriedly replanted the sticks, with one eye over her right shoulder, but the little dude came back for more. Good times...


Then I looked up from the stroller and saw Bleu PUSH him back like a defensive end on the 30-yard line. He was unphased; she was really upset. That's when I intervened and swiftly took her home. She was too mad in the moment to see reason or apologize for her actions and truly mean it. She still thought she was in the right. Bleu is known to be bossy and even competitive... but rarely have I seen her get physical. She was completely prepared to brawl in the name of stick gardens, if it came to that.


We discussed. She cried a wee bit in self pity, still believing it was her duty to protect the land. I explained that it was not hers to protect. The library hill -- and everything on it -- is for everyone, no invitation necessary. Maybe Jacob wasn't doing with the sticks what she wanted, but she needs to roll with it. And under no circumstances is it okay to push. She accepted her consequence and then started on her first apology letter.


I must admit this part was kind of fun for me. I dictated and she wrote with a few verbal cues. (ie. Remember a "u" is a "c" on it's side / I know Mom! / a "b" is an "l" with a half circle attached.) The only letters she didn't know how to start were S and Y. She'll hand the note to Jacob.