Another problem I have with my 3 kids is their bickering all the time. They egg each other on and we're working on stopping it, but does anyone have any suggestions? It doesn't matter what it is, they fight and argue about it all the time. I've been stopping them when they start and tell them to be quiet if they can't say something nice..and that paddle comes in handy too! I've noticed it's mainly when the 3 of them are together. If it's just two of them, they get along OK.
My kids still bicker alot (6 and 9....girl and boy respectively). One thing that helps us if they don't resolve the issue themselves is to have the offender serve the offended. Like clearing their dishes from the table or whatever is there to be done around the time of the offense. That is if one child is intentionally causing the other one grief. I still need some help with this. It isn't too bad in our home anymore, but it could always stand to get better. I'm anxious to see others' ideas!
My mom broke my sister and I from constant bickering by tying the ends of our braids together and telling us to go ahead and duke it out... *laughing*! Hmm... I wonder why we both have shorter hair now !?
my team of 4 are at it a lot too. But worse is my oldest daughter's tattling. And it is true, when they are all together its worse, when just one of them is gone its so quiet, My husband usually takes one at a time to the grocery store-- a treat for that one. And when that happens they are usually good. I also have a problem with the kids messy rooms, the 2 girls share and the 2 boys share a room. The boys are awful at keeping things cleaned up, I nagged them to clean up, threatened with no X-box, no afternoon snack until they were done, but they didn't do ANYTHING until dad was on his way home and said his soulution was going to get a rake and rake every thing out and put in garbage bags!--they got the room clean in 10 minutes!
My husband and I have decided our kids have too many toys. We have been reading the little house books to the kids and they enjoy them. Laura only had one toy her whole life, Charlotte, a rag doll. Then I look at my kids rooms and ask myself is all this really necessary? Mostly they are gifts from other people but how many toys does one kid need? So, since we've moved, I bought plastic tubs that fit under the bed and they can choose which toys they want, but if they don't fit in the tubs they can't keep them. The rest go in a box out in the shed. I also told them that if they want their toys they need to be responsible and keep their rooms clean. If I find toys they go out in the shed until they keep their room clean for a week. I've also read Creative Correction by Lisa Welchel, and excellent book! If her kids don't pick up their toys she puts them up and if they want them back they have to pay $ .25 for each toy. I did that a few years ago (of course it won't work with small children because they don't usually have money to buy them back) and my son didn't want to clean his room and he said I could put them all up. Well I did and since the 3-4 years ago when I did that, he's only bought a handful back. That really takes care of the problem and the kids tend to learn what they can live with and live without. I may just do that again. Parenting is definately the most challenging thing I've ever done!
My kids tattle all the time too and the oldest thinks he's a parent! We've really been working on that and teaching him that when we tell one of his siblings something that it's none of his business and needs to keep his mouth shut. He will go on and on and be bossy and uses force on the girls sometimes to make them do something. He's getting better. He also talks back a lot. I've watched The Nanny show before and in books I read they never seem to spank anymore. I think putting the paddle back to use works wonders still! Mine are 11, 8, and 6. I also have a 10 month old and another on the way! They keep me busy!
My boys (ages 13 and almost 16) bicker all the time. It drives me up the wall, but I've yet to figure out the way to put a stop to it. I mostly just try to ignore them unless they start getting physical with each other. I think it really must be a natural part of growing up and learning how to work their feelings out. It's one thing you always hear parents complain about. In fact, I remember quite well doing it myself. :razz:
I have taken toys away in bags before, put them in the shed and they didn't get them back for a while, always pleased to see old stuff, I guess I need to rotate their toys more, they have to many of them as it is.
