Kid's sense of justice

I was reflecting on the flight from L.A. to St Louis, that kids have an inbuilt sense of justice. Last week, I was cooking in the kitchen and had both Callum and Aidan running around my feet. I couldn't keep my eye on both of them, so I was trusting that Aidan wasn't annoying Callum too much, and that Callum was not overtly attacking Aidan.

At the time, I thought that Aidan was trying to pull at Callum's hair. This is one of his tactics to get attention. Callum had gotten into the kids drink bottle cupboard, and had pulled out the Simpsons drinking bottle. Aidan, who thinks that anything which is branded is his, promptly tried to take it off him. Callum cried, and then Aidan gave it back. I watched this as I stood cutting vegetables at the bench. When I turned away, Callum started crying. I turned back to see him standing there, Aidan next to him, and the bottle on the floor. I scolded Aidan, who looked deeply hurt, and picked up the bottle and gave it back to Aidan.

I went back to cutting vegetables, and then Callum started crying again. Again, Aidan was next to him, and the bottle was on the floor. I then told Aidan off, and told him to "Get out of the kitchen!" He protested, but as he can't communicate that well, all he did was his chicken arms, flapping them around as though he wasn't responsible. I picked up the bottle, and gave it again to Callum. This time, he flung it onto the floor, and started crying again. Aidan hadn't done anything. I was wrong, and he was right. When I apologised, he looked at me as if to say "I told you so."

Ciao for Now, I Should Be More Tolerant Angry Dad.