Diplomat

It's always a dicey situation when you send your firecracker of a little boy over to a friend's house for a play date. Knowing how Taylor and Reilly tend to resolve their issues by screaming louder than should be humanly possible, it is only understandable that I should be slightly nervous about any sharing issues that might arise outside of our own home with someone else's children.

Brady & Taylor have known each other since their nursery days in church. They go way back. In fact, their friendship got off to a less than auspicious start when Taylor had to be transferred into a different class because the two of them kept getting into fist fights. Ah, memories. Now that they are older and wiser, however, they have become good buddies and have a blast together, without resorting to violence. You only have to mention the mere possibility of going over to Brady's house to Taylor to see immediate behavioral modification for the better.

But having witnessed how that behavior typically changes in the midst of a heated sharing debate, I had my doubts about the longevity of Taylor's angelic conduct while away from home. So with a deep breath and a kiss for luck, I sent him out the door, hoping that something I taught him about politeness and friendship had stuck.

A couple hours later, he arrived back home.

"How did he do?" I asked my friend, hoping the news wouldn't cause me to cringe too badly.
"Oh, they did great! We did have one little sharing issue that came up..."
(Cue the mental cringe.)
"Brady didn't want to share something Taylor really wanted to play with... But you know how sometimes kids say things that you know must come from their parents?..."
(Cue the impending stomachache.)
"Well, he said something that was so funny. He looked at Brady and said, 'Come here, Brady, and let's talk about this.' And it all turned out okay."
(Wait. What?)

No screaming? No tantrum? No flailing about?
My little firecracker is growing up.