I think it’s “that age” and I know it will only get worse with children just 15 months apart. I have all kinds of “intellectual” and experience based reasons to explain away why my daughters are constantly bickering, but that doesn’t get the job done. Here’s some things we are using in our household to help stop sibling squabbles.
Recently we have encountered sibling squabbles that could rival anything seen in high school or on the movie Mean Girls. Sibling squabbles are as old as the story of Cain and Abel and perfectly normal, but with the summer break and both of them home all day, it’s time to stop the sibling fighting and turn it into sibling sanity. Here’s what I’ve been doing to stop the fighting.
Ding ding ding, and in this corner! As soon as you try to break up the fight both children start the blame game at once and instead of indulging in a she said, she said argument I have found that if they can both take a minute to think about what happened and then explain it to me using manners and respectful tones of voice, we can get to the bottom of the matter without having to declare a “knock out.”
Let them figure it out. At this age sometimes they do just need to figure it out on their own. Mom or dad will not always be there to break up the fight or to declare a winner. Letting them figure it out teaches them to resolve conflicts on their own through negotiation, compromise or determining what is really worth fighting for. Of course, if the fight is out of control stop it. You wouldn’t let anyone else harm your child; don’t let the kids get away with it thinking that they will “figure it out.” Know when to say when.
Sibling squabbles are sibling rivalry. Today my daughter . . . Continue reading Stopping sibling squabbles
