When my 4.5-year old son does something that hurts someone else, he clams up, and when I tell him that he caused harm and should say he's sorry, he says, "I meant to hurt him/her. I wish I'd hurt him/her more."
Now sometimes he'll say he's sorry, like when he bumps into me and I say, "Ow!" But just now he stuck his foot out to stop his dad from going somewhere, and my 6' 3" husband actually fell and hit the floor. He's ultimately okay, but when I tried to impress upon our son how he REALLY could have hurt Daddy, and did in fact hurt him a little, my son just said, "I don't care."
Generally he's a pretty loving boy and not a terror or anything. I get the sense that he's maybe feeling bad but not not sure how to handle what he did and how he's feeling about it.
Does anyone have any suggestions of how to deal with this?
Now sometimes he'll say he's sorry, like when he bumps into me and I say, "Ow!" But just now he stuck his foot out to stop his dad from going somewhere, and my 6' 3" husband actually fell and hit the floor. He's ultimately okay, but when I tried to impress upon our son how he REALLY could have hurt Daddy, and did in fact hurt him a little, my son just said, "I don't care."
Generally he's a pretty loving boy and not a terror or anything. I get the sense that he's maybe feeling bad but not not sure how to handle what he did and how he's feeling about it.
Does anyone have any suggestions of how to deal with this?
Obviously not all boys and obviously some girls, but starting between 3 and 6 and going to age 17 to 30 or so they just seem to be wired for the life of a hunter in a hunter-gather society. (Running, jumping, climbing, hitting stuff, hitting stuff farther away, hitting stuff that's moving, hiding--eating a ton, and then sleeping the day away.)
