Do most 5.5 year olds have loving empathy?
Chispa has mostly been pissed that Changa has gotten extra attention for her damaged paw. Chispa was peeved when the Q's kids brought her a GREEN card (Changa's favorite color) lovingly inscribed with get well messages. Chispa was also peeved that Changa was given a big poster from her bunk at camp to get better.
Chispa did then manage to make Changa a card, with all the prompting of the other ones. Naturally, Changa, in proper sibling rivalry format, refused to acknowledge it. I nearly had to force her to hang the card in her room with the others, or Chispa would have been desperately upset. Sigh.
Chispa did also pull a a running sheet of toilet paper out the door "to stop other door slams on fingers" the other day. At least we know it's made some dent in her consciousness.
However, mostly, I'd say Chispa just doesn't like that Changa is getting attention for her owie.
Do other 5 year olds have more empathy? Lord knows ours is on the self-absorbed side in general, but I was pretty unimpressed with this display. We are trying to model everything. Are we failing?
2 comments:
That sounds dead-on for a five-year-old to me. I'm not saying I'm a paragon of sympathy now (I try, but...), when I was five, I can remember being exceedingly coldhearted where my sister was concerned.
Hardly failing, sounds soooo normal. Some time after our Adventures in Bashing Your Brother's Teeth In, I read something about impulse control, judgment, remorse, and empathy kicking in somewhere in the middle elementary years. As in, don't expect it any time soon. Bliss.
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