Discipline and Behavior - Wellsville,MO

You did not mention if they were the same gender. If they are females well that is rivalery. You have to teach them to respect and love each other. What I did for each bad thing they did to each othe they must sit and say something nice and apoligize and shake hands. If they refuse then they need to know there are consequences. I would punish them. Take away and you must not back down stand firm until you have this under control or they will continue and believe me it can get worse. You must tell the six year old she is not the one in charge and she is not to tell others what to do. once you establish guidelines they will follow it will become easier for all. Perhaps at Dinner have everyone tell something they did that day or something that they feel they need to express to all. Good luck.

When they start to argue, is it possible to just separate them? Just tell them to go to their own rooms until they can play nicely?
As for the mouthing problem, I'm dealing with a similar issue with my 7 year old. I just have to keep telling her, she is not allowed to speak to me like that and I check her even when her voice gets a little sassy. SHe gets sent to her room until she can speak to me with respect.

I just recommended this in another post so I will be brief. I read a book called Love and Logic. It helps with any kind of situation that is making you crazy. You need to put the responsiblity back onto your kids and they need to be paying the price for their fights, not you. It would take too long to explain here, but the book helped me a lot. You can get it from the library and there are different editions for different ages. Good luck.

I recommend Love and Logic, 1-2-3 Magic and Conscious Discipline, all three of these are good parenting methods. I teach 1-2-3 Magic but also provide clients with Love and Logic resources if they are interested. I actually am a Targeted Case Manager and work with children. The most important thing that you need to do is to be consistent with whatever parenting method you choose. Good luck, I am sure you will find your way.

T. -

Whew girl! You have your hands full! I have two kids that fight 90% of the time too! Such a treat to be confined in small spaces with them sometimes! :) But, things have improved on that with a few very workable strategies. One thing that works very well is love & logic parenting methods. I cannot stress that enough! It has worked wonders with my son and I wish I had known the strategies when my daughter was little. But, they work on all ages! You really should try them out. You can buy books or videos online but I usually just check them out at the library or the church's library. You could even probably borrow them from the counselor at your children's school...they use the methods there too! Also, we have two things we do at our house that has helped with the bickering: #1 Unless there would be hitting or something physical we tell the kids we WILL NOT listen. The majority of the time kiddos fight with one another is for "audience appreciation". If there is no audience, then at least with our experiences, the fight either doesn't last OR on the plus side - they end up working it out themselves which is obviously what you would want to happen. #2 If they do not work it out themselves then they both have to sit on the couch with no tv, nothing to do (usually holding hands,lol) until they are calm and agree to work it out. They HATE this tactic so they always work it out immediately - this has never failed! But ideally, you want them to just know that they are big kids and must work problems out with the person they are upset with. Rarely should you be forced to mediate.
I think if you try love and logic you would see some benefit. And of course be firm and consistent that you will not listen to constant bickering and they will get it and be forced to work through the petty stuff themselves making it much easier on you!
BEST OF LUCK! Hope you get some relief! :)

Keep on top of your discpline,this age they clearly understand what timeout is and thing's being taken away.Don't let them get away with it just because, as they get older it will get harder and you'll wish you would of displined them much harder.Also for the mouthing back my son is 4 and he mouths back but I have asked about it and they don't quite understand what it means but however I do point it out and tell him he can't speak to me that way that is incorrect and he'll correct himself.
I'm a wife and I stay @ home with my 2 kiddo's 4 & 1 yr old

T., we had a similar problem with our kids. We tried the "1-2-3 Magic" program by Dr. Thomas W. Phelan and it worked WONDERS. You can get either the book or the DVDs. The DVDs were pricey but they were worth every penny.

my boys are three years apart... when they would start picking at each other, first i'd give the m a "break" from one another and if they "pick" agagin...(here's where the fun starts!!!) id make them hug each other for however long timeout is for. i mean seriously... "both arms... act like you like each other... now thats how i like to see my children behaving!" oh it sounds crazy. it is. but it worked for us... and they are so hilarious the second time! ifyou want a good laugh release...then it works again later..."do you guys need to take a hug break,again? in my experience, it never stops being funny. thank you for your service hope you find some release. don't forget they may have cabin fever like the rest of us!!!