On top of still feeling wiped out from the recent cold-from-hell, I have been living in a war zone for the last week.
For some reason, sibling bickering between Akra Jr (eldest son) and Li’l Bhaji (youngest son) has escalated to epic proportions of late (presumably fuelled by end-of-term-itis). Akra Jr’s speciality is quietly spoken nastiness and vindictiveness designed to get a rise. Li’l Bhaji’s speciality is a particularly high pitched whine and then suddenly lashing out. They both excel at tale-telling.
It’s becoming rapidly obvious that me intervening in any way only escalates the problem, even if I’m concerned that someone is about to become hurt. Separating them just allows resentment to brew to explosive levels and making any sort of judgement of who is right and who is wrong is a complete mug’s game.
We only have a few days left until the end of term, and then they get the glorious experience of togetherness for six weeks – the voice in my head is already chanting “DOOOOOOOMED” at me.
Would it be really terrible parenting to set up a boxing ring in the garden, let them get it out of their system regardless of injuries and then declare the rest of the house a fight free zone?!!
6 responses so far ↓
1 Colin B. // 15th Jul 2009 at 6:17 pm
Or you could add padding to their bodies to absorb hits and avoid damage of vital internal organs as well as coat every hard surface in the house with sponges or styrofoam and let them go nuts. They’ll be exhausted within an hour and there will be peace in the neighbourhood again.
Do you think giving them a fun (creative) project for the summer would help them get along without starting WWIII in your house? Try to find something that won’t cause competitiveness perhaps? Something they can do on their own as well as together?
2 Paula // 15th Jul 2009 at 10:29 pm
If you do find the solution to this then *please* let me know!
3 Paula // 15th Jul 2009 at 10:34 pm
Oh and just to add, north of the border is in to the third week of the holidays.
Third week, feels like third month.
4 Ys // 16th Jul 2009 at 11:29 am
aww sounds like hell hehe ;) I remember me and my elder sister used to fight nonstop when we were children. She was horrid to me though… ;)
5 Pewari // 17th Jul 2009 at 8:25 am
ColinB: that sounds an awesome idea. Any suggestions? And would you like to referee it for me? :D
Paula: oh ugh. Still, do they go back earlier as a result?
Ys: I’m sure their enduring memories of their childhood are going to be how horrible their sibling was to them too :(
6 Colin B. // 17th Jul 2009 at 1:22 pm
Have them use compact digital cameras or camera phones or the new DS if Akra Jr has it (film is expensive) to document first their own world and then what they perceive as each 0ther’s world. They won’t have to talk about it during the task unless they want to and then they can get together to document “mom & dad’s” world. Did that make any sense? It can be anything from everyday items like what you use in your routine (coffee mugs, tea bags, your iMac) to the actual rooms and spaces they associate with you. It could also be hypothetical as in what they can *imagine*.
At the end they can show the photos to you and explain them and you can frame their favourites and put them up somewhere in the house.
Please don’t make me referee this. I am not very good with children. I haven’t had any practice in years! We would kill each other! So you’d probably have one more child to take care of…
Don’t worry, they’ll remember it in a good way. I used to fight with my brother all the time when we were young. I have ruined many pairs of glasses because of that.
Do you think any of the above is a good idea in any way for you? It’s based on one of the courses I did for Uni this year.
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