Thursday, 27 October 2011

I had it!

With the constant fighting, bickering, crying. Over who chooses which DVD, get's out of the bath first or last or whatever, chooses the Bible story - I can go on and on. Constantly being accused of choosing a favorite.Of not remembering who last choose or did what.

So I took a page out of the school's book - we now have someone that is the "engine" of the day - they get to make the choices, they get to go first or last or whatever the issue might be. It is only our 4th day on it but I have to say that it worked like magic.I even had to make the rule that whoever is the engine can move the rocket ship in the morning.
So what's your magic tips for peace in the home?
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22 comments:

  1. Fiona27 October 2011 at 14:19

    What a brilliant idea!

    I'm going to have to try to remember this when Zoe is a bit older. I can definitely see how it could work.

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  2. Laura27 October 2011 at 14:45

    LOVE THIS!!

    I was just wondering this morning what I can do to sort out the fight over who sits in the front seat etc!!

    Am going to do this!!

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  3. blackhuff27 October 2011 at 15:16

    What a great idea! You are so good in this. May I steal this from you for my home?

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  4. cat27 October 2011 at 15:26

    Of course everybody - use it!

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  5. Kat27 October 2011 at 15:46

    I will use it when Ewan gets a sibling actually change that to if:) Great idea. Sorry to ask but could you go to my website www.katinafrica.co.za I have started a project for Reef Carneson and I would love it if you could get involved or just tell me some ideas.

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  6. mommygosleepynow27 October 2011 at 16:57

    Teaching farmerboy to "watch the big hand" on the clock to try and teach him when it's "Pappa se beurtjie" to watch the #@*&^**!! TV. So far it's working. Sort of.
    ( he's only 3 so "taking turns" is a VERY difficult thing to do....)

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  7. Frizzy27 October 2011 at 17:06

    What a brilliant idea! Great mommy moment if you ask me. LOVE IT!

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  8. MandyE (Twin Trials and Triumphs)27 October 2011 at 18:01

    I love this! I remember seeing a similar idea about each child having a "day", from a triplet mom. I think each kid had two days a week, and she had one - maybe Sunday. I like the moving of the engine, though...that way you don't have to remember what day it is, and it gets the kiddos involved in the visual.

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  9. Sarah @OMGTheresThree27 October 2011 at 19:23

    My friend uses this method with her kiddos and it seems to work well. I'm keeping it in my back pocket for later on!

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  10. Heather27 October 2011 at 21:08

    Great idea!

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  11. MomAgain@4027 October 2011 at 22:30

    Great tip! Luckily mine is so far apart I don't have this! :D
    But it gets difficult when a friend comes over to play...

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  12. alidaonline28 October 2011 at 11:13

    LOL even I'm going to use it to help decide who picks what we're watching, has the remote etc. Definitely not only for kids!

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  13. Anonymous28 October 2011 at 12:49

    I don't have this problem (yet), maybe I never will. But I remember how my parents solved it when we were going through it. There were certain chores to be done and certain privileges to be had. Like opening the gate, unpacking the dishwasher, cleaning the bathroom, sitting in the front seat of the car, picking the music we listened to that kind of thing. We couldn't get to what we called an equitable split - so we did it according to the clock. My brother got all in the mornings and I got all in the afternoons. The dishwasher had two shelves, the one who got to it first could pick which shelf they wanted to unpack. Bathroom cleaning was split between washing floors, and washing the rest, first one in could pick on that too.

    And my mom couldn't stand a tattle-tale. She figured that every argument had two sides, and usually two wrong sides at that. Her rule was simple: the one who involved her got the first hiding and the other one the second! We learned how to sort out our own battles real quick, and quietly too. ;-)

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  14. Claudia28 October 2011 at 15:03

    Oh, this is SUCH a good idea. Such, such, such a good idea. And I also adore the idea from Mandy above that mama gets a day, too! As soon as they are old enough to understand? We will be doing this! Thanks so much for the tip (and for the validation on my post that someone else's twins fight like mine fight!)

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  15. cat28 October 2011 at 15:39

    @Alidaonline - Oh I had a good laugh!Should work for the Big Kids too.

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  16. Marcia (123 blog)28 October 2011 at 16:30

    LOVE IT!

    We don't fight .... yet?

    But I personally don't have patience so I'll send them to their room to kill each other so I don't have to hear it.

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  17. Lynette Jacobs28 October 2011 at 17:43

    This is a wonderful tip and I remember using it when my boys were young.

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  18. Unknown30 October 2011 at 03:55

    what a great idea!!! I am hoping its continuing to work like a charm!

    Things have been going smoothly here lately but last year we had some pretty big morning stress. I made a picture schedule and made a reward chart to go with it. It helped tremendously and our mornings are SO much better than they were!!

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  19. Jenty30 October 2011 at 23:21

    That is clever, I like that idea!

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  20. Tania1 November 2011 at 14:07

    Works very well for us!

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  21. Candice3 November 2011 at 06:10

    Brilliant! I will have to keep this in mind!

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  22. Julia27 August 2012 at 15:30

    This is brilliant, Cat! Truly! I'd definitely love to share it! I definitely need to tuck this away for when the girls start battling who gets to make the choice.

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