only a thought. You should expect your 5 year old to only have great potential to develop tact, not have it.
Only by explaining the situation to her, repeating specific words, consistently. Will she be able to associate annoyance by another person with the way that person is acting. For example; "Little sister doesnt seem to want to play anymore, she seems annoyed. Lets go do..." She may not have a clue what the word annoyed means NOW. But if she hears you say that, every time you show her that emotion from another person, she will develope the habit of seeing it and empathising for herself! It took me 4 months, of saying to my 6 year old son..."You cannot antagonize (provoke/bully) your brother. That is unaceptable behavior, period." For him to associate specific actions with those specific words. But now he knows exactly what they mean! Thank God. And when he acts a different way, I label that behavior also. For example "You cannot badger me." Which are about the only things he does now, when he does them.
You can do it. Expect a confused look from her, and mabey even a "what does badger mean?" here and there. Just have patience. And remember, expect from her, only to have great potential for anything positive!
no you should not expect your child to be able to do this at 5 her social skills are highly developed and she is starting to develope the ability to understand others feelings as been seperate from her own yet it will be several more years before she is able to act on these new skills
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Replying to:
only a thought. You should expect your 5 year old to only have great potential to develop tact, not have it.
Only by explaining the situation to her, repeating specific words, consistently. Will she be able to associate annoyance by another person with the way that person is acting. For example; "Little sister doesnt seem to want to play anymore, she seems annoyed. Lets go do..." She may not have a clue what the word annoyed means NOW. But if she hears you say that, every time you show her that emotion from another person, she will develope the habit of seeing it and empathising for herself! It took me 4 months, of saying to my 6 year old son..."You cannot antagonize (provoke/bully) your brother. That is unaceptable behavior, period." For him to associate specific actions with those specific words. But now he knows exactly what they mean! Thank God. And when he acts a different way, I label that behavior also. For example "You cannot badger me." Which are about the only things he does now, when he does them.
You can do it. Expect a confused look from her, and mabey even a "what does badger mean?" here and there. Just have patience. And remember, expect from her, only to have great potential for anything positive!
