So when we got back in the car, I told her I wanted to talk to her about two things that I heard, one was good and one was bad. Which did she want first? She said “Bad”. So we talked about the “Shut up”. She explained that another kid had “said something terrible” to her new friend. Wow. My kid is defending her friends. Nevertheless, I explained that there were kinder ways to do the same thing. “Please don’t say that” or “That wasn’t nice” etc. She cut me off mid-sentence and asked “What was good?” (Little stinker!) I smiled and said how happy it made me to see her good manners with others. She beamed.

Play is the work of children, and sometimes they surprise us with the skills they acquire while hard at play/work.