Do you know the kids cartoon The Rugrats? With Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Susie, and of course, the infamous Angelica.

Angelica is often portrayed as selfish, self-centered and motivated solely by how their little adventures would benefit her.

Hear me out though...maybe we misunderstood and had developmentally unrealistic expectations for the 4 year old?

Because in real life where infants and toddlers don’t get lost in Paris for hours unnoticed and explore the whole neighborhood unsupervised it’s actually normal for young children to be borderline egotistical.

It’s actually a typical developmental stage and a part of their growth.

There was once a time when you were running around a playground shrugging nonchalantly after seeing a playmate trip too.

But if you’re afraid of raising a mean kid, you wouldn’t be the only one.

I have had plenty of parents come to me concerned that their little angel is more like a little Chuckie doll.

“They smirk whenever I tell them that hitting so-and-so hurts them.” or “They laugh when they see they’ve made another child upset.”

Maybe a teacher has even reported your child refused to apologize after making a peer cry. It’s a sucky feeling to think your kid is out there being flat out mean.

Before you panic though, you’re not raising an asshole.

On this episode we´ll discuss:

- Why it’s completely normal for young kids to be selfish.

- Why our usual go-to methods for teaching empathy (like lecturing them about being kind) are not working.

- How to teach our children empathy in a meaningful, developmentally appropriate way.

Grab the Scripts to Manage the Top 10 Crazy-Making Behaviours: prnt.link/scripts Watch the video recording here: Join the Parenting Posse: prnt.link/group the Mudroom is recorded live every Wednesday at 1:30pm ET/ 12:30pm CT/ 10:30am PT on Facebook: facebook.com/arfamilyservices

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