the golden rule

so i try to incorporate biblical principals into my childrearing attempts. "try," and "attempts," because things don't always turn out the way i've planned.

case in point:

i tried to teach sunny about "do unto others." "'Jesus said,' i told him, 'that we should treat other people the way we want to be treated. it's called 'do unto others what you want them to do to

you!' " and then i gave him several concrete examples of how this works. "do you want sailor to pinch you? no? then don't pinch her!"

however, i feel i must have made a mistake somewhere. they were playing on the kitchen sofa the other day when i heard sailor start crying. i came running in and found sunny standing next to her, a look of defiance on his face. "she pushed me first!" he exclaimed. "so i pushed her back! because she must have wanted me to! you know, it was 'do unto others!' "