A child of seven being clumsy, or is that careless, when knocking over a drink that had been put near for her to drink, is certainly old enough to be having a conversation about how she would feel if you knocked a drink over on her new dress, book, game, etc and perhaps let her know why you shouted. I know children of that age get very engrossed in what they are doing and 'forget' what was said two minutes ago, but I recall a conversation with a child of mine at that age when being told to replace a drink on the table where it had been picked up from, at the far side of the plate. The child replaced the cup at the edge of the table as so many of them do and seconds later elbowed it off the table. The childs sister was drenched in orange juice and they were both in tears. While I know all this upset was accidental it could have been avoided. I asked the child who had spilled the drink to replace the empty cup where I had already said it should be and repeat what he had done when the drink was spilled. When he realised that doing as asked would have left him with his orange to drink and his sister dry that was the last time that that particular accident ever occurred. Would it be an idea perhaps to tell this child that her drink is on the table and please to come and drink it so that she is only doing one thing at a time?
