but that's logic that may be more advanced than what he understands at this point. I'm dealing with the thing with my 5 year old son. yours probably doesn't believe he's not in trouble mainly because he knows he did something wrong.

regardless of how soft or non-confrontational my question may be, he feels confronted, he clams up. so I'll walk away and try again later. or just make a point to correct the behavior now without getting an answer. sometimes the answer doesn't matter. just try not to make the same mistake often. then we're off to having fun or maybe bedtime.