WHY DO MY KIDS HAVE TO BE SUCH JERKS TO EACH OTHER?

[Anonymous]

My kids get along great but also fight on a daily basis. I think fighting is normal but you do have to address it. otherwise, it will get out of control.

Doing the following things have helped minimize the Sibling fighting in our House:
- ALWAYS setting a good example for communicating, especially when you are angry. That means never name calling, yelling, threatening, or hurting with words.
- taking every opportunity you can to engage in healthy back and forth conversations with your children. Modeling listening, supporting, and positive interactions that make them feel good about themselves.
- no tolerance for hitting and name calling- always call it out and put a stop to it. Have a rule that we don’t hurt people with words or anything else in this house. That goes for parents too
- taking a hard critical look at how I spoke to the children and husband and keeping my sarcasm and little digs in check. Again, role modeling positive communication, especially when “annoyed”.

I started doing all this about 2 weeks ago and I have already seen a huge difference. That all said, more unsupervised time alone together naturally leads to more fighting, especially if you have children who have spirited personalities.

[Anonymous]

Put them to work mowing lawn cleaning the house, doing laundry, any and all household chores. My mother taught all of us how to run a house, boys and girls. My brothers did housework and my sister and I did yardwork. Believe me, no picky eaters and we bathed and were in bed by 9 pm every day. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop" is still true today!

[Anonymous]

Younger siblings get away with murder, so us older ones have to bring them down to earth. It's our sacred duty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids get along great but also fight on a daily basis. I think fighting is normal but you do have to address it. otherwise, it will get out of control.

Doing the following things have helped minimize the Sibling fighting in our House:
- ALWAYS setting a good example for communicating, especially when you are angry. That means never name calling, yelling, threatening, or hurting with words.
- taking every opportunity you can to engage in healthy back and forth conversations with your children. Modeling listening, supporting, and positive interactions that make them feel good about themselves.
- no tolerance for hitting and name calling- always call it out and put a stop to it. Have a rule that we don’t hurt people with words or anything else in this house. That goes for parents too
- taking a hard critical look at how I spoke to the children and husband and keeping my sarcasm and little digs in check. Again, role modeling positive communication, especially when “annoyed”.

I started doing all this about 2 weeks ago and I have already seen a huge difference. That all said, more unsupervised time alone together naturally leads to more fighting, especially if you have children who have spirited personalities.

You must’ve been very nasty in the past