In article ,
toto wrote:

On 2 Feb 2006 20:17:29 -0800, Banty wrote:

One thing to consider - one of the things that drives me crazy is when my
son
was younger, or friends with *visiting* children would behave roughly toward
my
son's stuff, and the parents have an 'oh well they're kids' attitude. I say
"oh
well they're kids that's why they need to *learn*." What they learn at home
*will* be reflected in what they do elsewhere. And they don't unlearn it as
quickly as you think. Like, not even by time they're sharing dorm rooms!

When my ds was 3, he had a collection of blown easter eggs that we had
decorated. He was extremely careful with them as they were very
delicate. He kept them for around 2 years. Then one day, he had a
friend come over (they were around 5 by then) and he showed his
friend the collection. This friend threw them and stomped on them
and destroyed them all. My son was very upset. The friend's parents
didn't think much of it as after all they were just *easter eggs.* Ds
never invited this boy home after that though they still played at
school and were friends there.

OTOH, my own dd had some destructive behavior at 3 when she
went to play with her friend (the boy's sister, btw). The problem at
this age though was a lack of supervision. The girl's dad had a
broken leg and let the two 3 year olds play upstairs in the bedroom.
He didn't hear them pillow fighting. One of the pillows broke and
started shedding feathers all over and the girls thought it was such
fun that they took the feathers out of a second pillow and were
throwing them all over. I really didn't consider that dd's fault or
her friend's fault though as they were 3, not 5 and both girls were
involved in the playing.


To say nothing of the fact that two 3 yo's left unsupervised is just not
a very good idea!

And what they broke didn't have sentimental value -- it's just a mess to
clean up.

--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care