Do you make your kids say "sorry" when they have been naughty?

[SpinedMicrathena]

That's it really. Please discuss.

childcare.about.com/od/behaviors/qt/sorry.htm

no wait..armadillo...that one was directed to you

Ds says sorry to parked cars if he bumps into them e.g. when leaving a car parking space (on foot). He picked that up from me.

hehehe madame

i do. and he's asked to apologise for the specific action. we dont do it for every little infraction, or he'd be saying sorry all day! but for bigger things like hitting and biting, we do.

i also try my hardest to apologise when i have done something wrong or naughty. like raise my voice. or if ds (who's 3) sees me and dh have an arguement, we make sure he sees us make up and say sorry.

to an earlier response, i dont think it humilates them at all.

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Haven't read the whole thread so sorry if I repeat what others may have said already.

I do make my children say sorry and also I'd expect the teenagers that I teach to say sorry if they have offended either myself or another member of staff. Saying sorry is a social convention that makes the world a slightly better place I believe.

I don't want it said just as a meaningless grunt though and would expect them to elaborate on exactly what they are sorry FOR and how their behaviour may be different next time in order to ensure that things don't escalate.

It worries me that some people seem to thnk that apologising is a sign of weakness - it isn't; I believe it's a strength to be able to say "okay I accept that I've done such and such, and through that have hurt your feelings/made you angry, whatever - and this is my way of beginning to re-build the bridges between us".

saying sorry and the word naughty in one sentence?

twice

I get the DTs (3.6) to say sorry when they are ready to say it, rather than as an automatic reaction, they often say it without prompting after they have calmed down from whatever the hoohah was...