Socialization in Action

But how will they be socialized?!

Sometimes when Mary is crabby, she starts screaming at John to be quiet about every little thing, whether turning the pages in his book or drinking his water or breathing. This morning she was in one of those moods and kept saying things like, "Stop drinking, John! I can't hear!" with her face all scrunched up in a mean expression.

Then the following exchange occurred between my babies, two-last-week and four-next-week:

John, sweetly: "Mary, why did you say that to me? Were you trying to be funny?"

"Yes."

"Well, Mary, that's not funny to tell me not to drink my water. That's not funny. Please say you're sorry to me for talking rudely. And then you need to say sorry to God." (This was repeated a couple of times, as Mary resisted.)

Mary, relenting: "Sorry, Brother."