"Let Me Explain"

I am finding that a smart child is sometimes a huge challenge when it comes to discipline. Last week I picked Cooper up from school and his teacher pulled me aside to let me know he had hit a boy in the face with a dinosaur.  She was not concerned about it but wanted to let me know about this power struggle and I told her we would address this issue when we got to the car.

Once in the car this is how our conversation went:

Me: "Cooper, your teacher said you hit one of your friends in the face with a dinosaur"
Cooper: "Mom it was a T-Rex"
Me; "Ok! A T-Rex!  Why would you hit your friend in the face?"
Cooper: "Mom, let me explain this to you"
Me: "Um Ok Cooper, Please explain this to me"
Cooper: "I was playing with the T-Rex and Jackson came over and wanted to play.  I told him he could play with another Dinosaur but he wanted my T-Rex.  He pulled on the T-Rex so I hit him with it.  He then started to play with the other Dinosaur"

I just sat there stunned that he just went through the entire thought process of why he had hit that child.  And honestly I could see the whole picture playing out.  We then had a serious talk about not hitting people and sharing things we might not want to.  All the while I am holding back laughter and tears at how funny this situation is :) 

We have not had another issue in class and he is back to being "Super Cooper", as his teacher likes to call him!