Saying “I’m sorry” is a difficult thing for many children to learn. Yet it is extremely important. Saying “I’m sorry” means that your child recognizes that they have done something wrong or hurt someone and that they accept responsibility for their actions.
By about age two your child is old enough to say, “I’m sorry.” When your child does something that they shouldn’t have, prompt them to say, “I’m sorry.” They will probably not understand the full implication of the word, but realize that it is what you say when you have hurt someone.
Sometimes children can be really stubborn. I once made my two-year-old sit in time out for five minutes before she said sorry to her sister. The experience made her realize how serious I was about her saying she was sorry. The next time she had to say sorry it came a lot easier.
As children grow they realize that saying they are sorry means that they feel badly about what they did. My three-year-old often says, “Sorry, mom,” without prompting when I express displeasure about something that she did.
Children should also be taught to say sorry when they have done something accidentally. My son still has a hard time saying sorry if he didn’t hurt one of his sisters on purpose. But I remind him that saying sorry means that he feels bad that they got hurt even though he didn’t mean to.
Teaching children to say, “I’m sorry” when young will prepare them to use the phrase throughout the rest of their life. “I’m sorry” can be one of the hardest things for adults to say, usually because they weren’t trained to say it as a child.
As a parent I try to model the behavior I want my children to exhibit. I try and say, “I’m sorry” to both my husband and my children.
With practice and a lot of prompting your child can learn to say, “I’m sorry” too.