DD is 16 months - too young to appologise?

[padboz]

If I say 'can you say tree/car/hat' etc etc she will say it willingly and instantly - I therefore have no doubt that she knows what is being asked of her. She can say the word sorry and has done many times - normally when her sister has had to say it to her. If she hurts dd1 I would like to get her to say sorry but SHE WILL NOT DO IT She says 'NO!' If I ask her to say sorry and runs away. I tried for half an hour yesterday to get her to say it and in the end had to accept her kissing her sister as an appology. Should I persevere or wait a few months? I feel like I'm storing up all kinds of problems here and don't know if I'm being too harsh or not harsh enough.

Blimey, your DD sounds very advanced to me! Not sure they can really understand meaning of sorry at that age, can they?

Always tell her to say sorry but don't push it at this age. 16 months is very young to understand the concept.

A kiss as an apology is good enough- very good in fact.

do you want her to say it or mean it? I doubt she's capable of meaning it at 16 months but not much experience of it.

I think it's more the gesture that counts at that age...

So would go more for a "Say sorry, DD" but do a stroke/pat/kiss thing instead of the word itself

That way she'll maybe still get the meaning of what she's doing?

Hello!

DS1 can't say sorry, but he understands the concept- he will stroke the head of the person he's saying 'sorry' to show he's sorry. He's 22mths now though, so bit older.

Thing is, tree/car etc are tangible things she can see, sorry is a concept she might not really understand yet, so perhaps she gets confused.

I think at that age it's better to settle for her being nice to her sister again. A kiss sounds like a very good apology to me. She's too young to understand about her sister's feelings anyway. She'll get the hang of it eventually so I'd probably not make a battle out of it.

should add - tree/hat etc are things she can see and understand "sorry" is a very abstract concept for that age.

I'd say something like, 'I think you should say sorry' and then let it go.

My DD who has just turned 19 months wouldn't have a clue about apologising and saying sorry at the moment. She is not much of a talker but understands most things we say but I know she would not understand the concept of saying sorry to someone.

since my 15 and a bit month old can say hello, yes and uhoh I'd say a proper apology is a bit much to expect

My DS is just 2yr and for the past few months when i;ve asked him to say sorry he's given me a hug (or said item) sometimes a kiss. He's just started to actually say the word Sorry.

Perahps you lo is just a little young yet, but i'd suggest encouraging her to cuddle or kiss instead for now

sounds like a consensus She's a proper chatterbox and has a few 2 word things cracked - more milk, bath now etc so I'm reasonably sure of her language skills - shes said please and thankyou for a few months on the abstract front too. I think I'll back off tho - thanks