wants to lock my kids in their bedrooms for the rest of their childhood!!!!!!

[Coconuts]

This thread is too funny! I knew others out there must be like me when I saw that there were 4 pages of responses in 1 day.

My kids are exactly the same. They fight so much and then when I separate them, they cry for each other and beg to be let back together. This upcoming trip should be fun with all 5 of us in POP (so far the smallest room we've ever stayed in!) I feel bad for the people staying next to us.

Oh and I think I was told that I'M the meanest, worst mom in the world, not any of you.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

This thread is too funny! I knew others out there must be like me when I saw that there were 4 pages of responses in 1 day.

My kids are exactly the same. They fight so much and then when I separate them, they cry for each other and beg to be let back together. This upcoming trip should be fun with all 5 of us in POP (so far the smallest room we've ever stayed in!) I feel bad for the people staying next to us.

Oh and I think I was told that I'M the meanest, worst mom in the world, not any of you.

My kids do the same too. I seperate them and then the sneak back to be together. I don't get it, guess I never will having no siblings myself.

We always stay at the AllStars. We are not all in 1 room for sleeping (cause of the rules or we would.) My DD16 sleeps in her grandparents room but she get sready and keeps all her stuff in our room. Literally nothing of hers is in their room but her. We did fine. I am sure you will too. It will be an experience. For the most part my kids were much better on vacation then at home. Too excited to argue in the morning, too tired to argue at night.

 

[estherhead]

My girls aren't TOO terrible, though I was more than happy to put the two eldest on the bus.

My sister & I fought CONSTANTLY when we were younger. My mom was driven crazy by us & I remember my dad always threatening us with installing cab glass between the front seat and back in our car so he didn't have to hear it.

But we are now in our thirties and literally best friends. We cannot live without each other. We have opposite personalities (thus the childhood fighting) and that makes us perfect compliments in the business we run together, in planning our Disney trips (which we take together), and coordinating a few weddings a year as a side business!!! When I say we do everything together, I mean it! She says we are twins and my mom says we are "a force to reckoned with" as together we are a WAY better person than apart.

I love all the ideas on here and am going to use a few but I try to cope by realizing that the fighting while young can teach valuable lessons on figuring out how to deal and communicate when they are adults.

My sister, by the way, has 4 boys and I have 3 girls. Ages 3-13. Ah, the fights they can have while together. Good times, good times.

 

[famofsix]

we should start a meanest mom in the world club

 

[CherylA]

I have been known to make my 2 dd's sit on the couch and hold hands(12 and 15) In minutes, they are laughing. Most of the time though, I ignore it.

My mom used to make us stand nose to nose when we aregued. We too were giggling within minutes. I haven't tried it with my kids yet, I'm not sure why. I think I'll pull that one out of the bag of tricks soon.

My girls 6 and 8 bicker a lot too. Sometimes though they get along so nice and I think, why can't it always be like this!

 

[Macgyver91]

Here's how it works. You get in between them and interrupt the conversation and ask:

Child A, what do you want Child B to know?

(Child A says whatever he's upset about - wanting a toy, to do something first, whatever it is.)

Child B, what did you hear your brother saying?

(Child B repeats it back. Child A may correct it or add more. You keep saying "is there anything else you want him to know?" until he agrees he's made his point or had his say.)

Okay. Child B, what do you want Child A to know?

(Now he makes his point or says what he's upset about.)

Child A, what did you hear your brother say?

(Again, make sure A understands B's points and B feels satisfied that he's been heard.)

Now, does anyone have ideas about how we can resolve this?

(Child A might say "I get the toy all to myself.")

Is everyone happy with this? Does it work for everyone?

(Child B says NO!)

That idea doesn't work. Any other ideas?

(Child B says "Fine, we'll take turns. You have it for 5 minutes then I'll have it for 5 minutes. Mom, you can time it.")

Everyone agrees and off you go.

Sometimes it takes a while, of course, to come up with a solution. And you can propose solutions, too, and can also object to ideas they come up with if you're not happy with them. But the more you do this, the less time it takes. They get better and better at expressing their needs, listening to each other, and thinking of solutions that will work for everyone. Sometimes their solutions are very creative and surprise me!

Teresa

I will so have to try this....Thanks! DD13 tries to tell DS10 what he is or isn't going to do and how. If I could get her to tend to her own business as much as she is in his, we would have it made. He always gets frustrated because he says no one listens to him! I am so glad that I found this thread...helps just to know that I am not the only one. My main worry is that they will turn out to act like me and my siblings, sister 9yrs younger and brother 3yrs older. We fought our whole childhood and to this day don't really get along at all. My brother and I are ok but the sister is another story! I just want my kids to have a great relationship and accept that they are different and just be friends. Fuss, fight and get over it!

On the up side, today was the first day back for my kiddos and I must say that the last 2 weeks hasn't been bad! We had some really great days...maybe we are on the downhill slope.

 

[lukenick1]

My girls aren't TOO terrible, though I was more than happy to put the two eldest on the bus.

My sister & I fought CONSTANTLY when we were younger. My mom was driven crazy by us & I remember my dad always threatening us with installing cab glass between the front seat and back in our car so he didn't have to hear it.

But we are now in our thirties and literally best friends. We cannot live without each other. We have opposite personalities (thus the childhood fighting) and that makes us perfect compliments in the business we run together, in planning our Disney trips (which we take together), and coordinating a few weddings a year as a side business!!! When I say we do everything together, I mean it! She says we are twins and my mom says we are "a force to reckoned with" as together we are a WAY better person than apart.

I love all the ideas on here and am going to use a few but I try to cope by realizing that the fighting while young can teach valuable lessons on figuring out how to deal and communicate when they are adults.

My sister, by the way, has 4 boys and I have 3 girls. Ages 3-13. Ah, the fights they can have while together. Good times, good times.

Can I just tell you how jealous I am of your relationship with your sister. I lost my sister in 1993 to drugs, she was 25 and I was 21. I am an only child now and in 2010 I lost both my parents. It's so hard not having my sister and I wish she was alround to meet my boys and to meet her 2 grandchildren (she had a daughter before she died). My niece and I are not that close because I dont really agree with the decisions she makes and she is pretty spoiled by her adopted mother, long story. I do remember my sister and I used to fight sooooo bad. She would try to boss me around, I would tell her to $#@ off then it would all go ballistic!

 

[cm8]

I remember those days!!! I'm so sorry for all of you. I do remember sending them off to school then crying because I was a bad mama and couldn't stop them from bickering. Now they are 20 and 19 and they have withdrawals from missing each other when DS20 is at college. They do still argue some, but mostly they are good with each other. I haven't come home from work to find DD pinning him to the floor in quite a few years now!

My best advice is to not take it personal. It's not you that's bad, it's the ages they are at. They will get over it--if you can just let them live long enough!

 

[disney1990]

I remember those days!!! I'm so sorry for all of you. I do remember sending them off to school then crying because I was a bad mama and couldn't stop them from bickering. Now they are 20 and 19 and they have withdrawals from missing each other when DS20 is at college. They do still argue some, but mostly they are good with each other. I haven't come home from work to find DD pinning him to the floor in quite a few years now!

My best advice is to not take it personal. It's not you that's bad, it's the ages they are at. They will get over it--if you can just let them live long enough!

My 33 year old daughter has 10 and 12 year old girls and they fight constantly. My daughter says to me one day, I don't remember fighting that much with my sister (short memory).

My daughter's best friend posted on Facebook that her boys had only been home from school for 5 minutes and that they were fighting already. My daughter said, really, mine have to get off the bus and walk home -- they are fighting before they even get in the door. "Think I can change the locks."

I know very few people that have kids that don't fight -- I think it's a right of passage -- as long as they aren't killing each other.

I too remember those days. My girls are now 33 and 26 and they fought constantly. Now they are the BEST of friends. I can't imagine them being without each other now and I am glad that they have each other.

 

[lukenick1]

BIG BATTLE at 7:30am today. Hope I handled it right...here goes.

Child A and B were up this morning watching TV. Child A left the room and got dressed then got breakfast. B stayed watching TV. A came in the room, told B he wanted to play Xbox and turned it on. B yelled no then came to tell me what was going on. I came in and asked A why he thinks he is in charge? A told me he told B he was going to play. They continued to argue so I let them have a choice. Choices were A watch TV now and B play Xbox afterschool or vice versa. That didn't go over well so we did rock paper scissors to see who would get to choose first. That was fair right? Well now they are accusing each other of cheating on rock paper scissors So I make them turn back to back then do it. Still didn't like it, but child A won and chose to play Xbox in the PM. Now B didn't want to watch tv before school but after school. B carried on even after we settled it fairly and now lost TV for the whole day. All that was the glorious start to my morning.