Teasing

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SHALOM: Gracie. Remember how sometimes you tease Laila and be kind of silly? Well, when my brother was a little boy like 6-7-8-9, about your age, he would tease his little brother Nathan. Gabriel was strong and tough, just like you are. Do you have big muscles? Are you a good hard worker? Gabriel was a good hard worker. He could work for HOURS in the hot sun. He was a hard worker. He’d go hunting and he was happy, just like you are. But you know what Gabriel did sometimes?

GRACIE: What?

SHALOM: He’d be like, “Nathan! There’s something black in your ear. Do you see that black thing in your ear? Oh! There’s something over here, there’s something over here.” And he would keep teasing him and teasing him. And you know what Nathan would do?

GRACIE: What?

SHALOM: Boo hoo hoo hoo. (Crying) “No! NO! Don’t’ bother my ear!” And Gabriel would just keep “hee, hee, hee, hee.” And he’d laugh “Hee, hee, hee, hee. Nathan’s so silly. Nathan’s crying. He’s got something black in his ear.” But that wasn’t good was it. No. Sometimes you do that to Laila. Sometimes you’d be like “Hey, Laila, look! You have something in your hair. You have something in your hair.” And you’ll laugh and you’ll think it’s so funny. But does Laila think it’s funny? NO! Laila doesn’t think it’s funny. What does Laila do?

GRACIE: Cries.

SHALOM: She cries, and whines. “No!” What do you think you should do when Laila does that? Do you think maybe you should say, “I’m sorry Laila. I didn’t mean to tease you.” And maybe you should stop teasing her? Do you think if Gabriel had stopped teasing Nathan that Nathan wouldn’t get mad and upset at Gabriel? Would Laila get mad if you said, “Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to tease you Laila.” And if you stopped?

GRACIE: Then she wouldn’t get mad.

SHALOM: She wouldn’t get mad, would she.

GRACIE: No.

SHALOM: And that would be a nice big sister thing to do. And you could help train Laila not to whine. Did you know that? You could help Mama train Laila not to whine by not teasing her. That would be a big helper for Mama. Do you want to try it? All right! I love you!

GRACIE: I love you too!

(HUGS AND KISSES)