What to do When Kids Fight
Ask Amy: When Siblings Fight
by Amy Egan
Very little can disturb a parent’s peace like children fighting. And it seems that very little we do to alleviate it does much, if any good. Most of us use knee-jerk reactions when we hear our kids fight or throwing punches. Those reactions being either yelling at them and telling they must learn to get along, or stepping in trying to find out who started the whole darn mess.
The problem with telling them, in our sternest voices, that they must learn to get along and quit fighting is that it doesn’t work. How many times have you said something like this to your kids? And how much better do they get along now? The real problem is that whenever we command our children to do something and they don’t do it, we look very wimpy! I’m pretty sure that we can all agree we ought to toss this technique into the trash bin.
