Why?

Whenever a kid comes up to me and says something like, "Mr. Bowers, Bobby hit me" or, "Mr. Bowers, Kelly pushed me." I will say to them, "Did you ask them why they did it?" If they say, "No" then I tell them to go and ask them, "why?"

Usually the other kid says something like, "Because you hit me first" or "Because you cut in front of me."

If someone came up to me and hit me I would usually know the reason why they did it. If I didn't know why they hit me, I would want to know.

I always tell them that hitting or pushing is no way to solve a problem--even if the other person hits first. I want the kids to start settling their messes by communicating with each other.