Strawberry Shortcake Saves the Day!

My daughter, Hannah, age 4, was playing with her little friend, Avery. Avery is about 8 months younger than Hannah and is just learning how to play, and sometimes has a little trouble. After playing at Avery's house, Hannah told me this is what happened:

Avery: "I'm not going to be your friend anymore! You have to go home!" (CLASSIC relational aggression)

Hannah: "Avery, on Strawberry Shortcake, they say you have to 'talk it out' when you are angry. If I go, then you won't have any friends to play with and we'll both be sad. How about we 'talk it out' instead?"

Avery: (after awhile) "okay, let's talk it out"

And they did! And they made up, and played nicely together for the next hour.

Okay, so we talk A LOT about relational aggression in our family (comes with the terroritory of doing research on the subject for the last decade), so I feel my kids are pretty well versed in this topic. But I LOVED how Hannah used the phrase "talk it out" after watching an episode of Strawberry Shortcake. I was a bit wary of this show, mostly cause I was so mad that they changed the way Strawberry Shortcake looked.....before she was this scrappy little red head, now she is yet one more example of a very thin, beautiful, character....BLAH. However, there are some really great messages in this program, and it definitely came out in this case.

I was very proud of how Hannah dealt with the situation and I think it showed a lot of maturity for her age (that she often lacks in sooo many other situations!) Hooray for positive media!!!!!

A recent pic of Hannah at her dance recital. How I love this little girl! :)