Photo by misteraitch
Having three adorable, normal children less than two years apart in age means that I deal with a lot of daily bickering.
In my seven years of motherhood, I've gradually accepted that this serves a purpose--it helps kids learn how to talk with each other, allows them to experiment (in a safe environment) with how words make others, and themselves, feel good or bad. I've also accepted that these are long-term lessons, and no magic pill or formula will completely eliminate it.
But one technique really has helped. The lucky day order.
Lucky day order appeals to a young child's natural concern for "fairness," and it significantly decreases the "when is my turn?" or "I want to be first" type of squabble.
It goes like this:
Each child has a "lucky day." In our home we rotate, so each child knows when it will be their day and when it isn't.
On their lucky day, a child gets to be first in the van, first out of the house, gets to choose what music we listen to, and so on. From there we go in age order as to who is second and who goes last.
It works! So if sibling bickering threatens to undo all of your patience, give a lucky day a try.
If this post inspired you, you can share it by using one of the links below:
