Apologizing isn't so much an art as a sport. When approached as
a skill to build, governed by a few simple rules, the apology
almost always achieves its goal — despite any fumbles during
delivery. When it's over, everyone wins. Degree of difficulty:
Medium to hard, depending on aversion to eye contact. 1. Forget
dodge ball; apologizing is a contact sport. "Eye-to-eye, face-
to-face, that's the one way it works," said Maribeth Kuzmeski,
author of "The Engaging Child" (Red Zone Publishing) and "The
Connectors" (Wiley), both relationship skills books. "My son,
when he was younger, … (would) write a note of apology. We would
say, 'We're so happy you took the time to write us this note.
We'd really like you to talk to us about it.'" Now, her kids and
their peers apologize by text message. "That seems to be
accepted. Apologies are situational sometimes. But, as a parent,
if my daughter apologized by text message to me, I would say,
'Are you kidding me?' Teenager to teenager may be one way, but
teen to adult or adult