You don’t need a plan or a script tonight, just a few honest sentences you can say out loud, right when it counts.
“Being mad at a friend doesn't mean the friendship is over.”
“Tell me what happened, and we'll figure out what comes next.”
“You get to choose how you make this right.”
Letting a child find their own way to repair things sticks better than a forced sorry.
In their story, both kids get to feel whatever they're feeling, and it's the child, not a grown-up, who figures out a small way to make things right.
It ends quietly, with play starting back up again, no big speech and no forced apology needed.
Read more: Stories and Empathy: How Fiction Builds Perspective-Taking
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