I am having a problem with....?

Question

My 7 year old daughter and 3 year old son fight constantly!!

My brother and I are 2 years apart and we fought alot - I dont see how my mom survived! Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I have a two year old and a 9 year old that fight constantly.  I only intervene if one starts crying.  Other than that I try to let them work it out amongst themselves.  I also remind them (especially my 9 year old) that any discipline in our house is to be enforced by an adult and that he should come and tell us what his brother is doing instead of giving him a directive (Go to timeout, go sit down) Of course if it is something that is going to cause harm then he can intervene before that happens.  Other than that they are siblings and unfortunately it will continue until they get older.

Answer 2

Who ever hits first gets time out. If it can't be determined who hit first they both get it. If they are just screaming let it go. They are releasing frustration in a non-violent manner. Try putting them in separate actives. That way they have time apart to do things they like, and between the activity and school they won't have time or energy to fight.

Answer 3

think of a punishment.

they need some obidence...

they won't fight if the know there is consequences

ex: timeout, no toys, no treats, no TV

take away what they love!

Answer 4

Say youll tape them 2gether if they start fighting! lol

Answer 5

This may be more appropriate for slightly older kids, but I know when I was little my twin sister and I fought absolutely ALL THE TIME, all day long, every day, and I don't know how my mother survived it. I can tell you now that it was mainly about competition. I needed to differentiate myself from her. I needed my own afterschool activity (I do dance, she does gymnastics), at least 2 or 3 of my own friends (and she had her own friends, even if we were all in the same classes together, Mom tried to keep friends separate), my own hobby (I do music, she does sign language). Then we got attention for different things and had less to compete over. With kids so far apart in age, one advantage is that you can coerce the older kid into behaving by saying she's "setting an example" for your son (this worked for my niece and nephew, same genders and age difference as your kids). This way she won't compete for him because she won't see herself as being on the same level as him. If she behaves she gets special older kid privileges like sweets or later bedtime. The "baby" will automatically get lots of attention and special "baby" things so he's probably already getting special attention (alone time with you when she's in school, for instance). Even though it's easier, try not to treat them as the same person. I'd be very surprised if that didn't work wonders.

Answer 6

well it really depends on what they are fighting about...

if they are fighting about a toy or something get another toy and convince the younger one that its a better toy or something.

if they are fighting over like who gets a bigger slice of the sandwich or whatever let one of them cut the sandwich and the other one pick which peice they want.

if they are just fighting cause they are mad at each other put them in time outs away from each other for like a few minutes then make them say sorry to each other. it doesn't really matter because kids fight all the time so its just natural. i know because its survival of the fittest in my house.:)

Answer 7

Buy a striped referee outfit and a whistle and start blowing the whistle and calling fouls.  I know it sounds funny but it will get their attention and then give you a teaching opportunity.  I actually know a friend who did this with her young kids a few years ago and now they laugh about it but the kids say it did make an impression on them!

Answer 8

lol, get some earplugs

Answer 9

I had a boy and girl 13 months apart. They would fight over everything. They both would want the same toy and I would put the toy on top of the refrigerator and by the end of the day all the toys were on top of the frig. My daughter told me once that I needed a hearing aid because she asked me something three times and I didn't answer because I learned to just tune them out. Get a baby sitter and go out to lunch and let the sitter put up with it for a few hours.

Answer 10

Turn the television OFF, don't let anyone watch it.  Make them sit face to face and stare at each other for 15 minutes.  Or you can do what my mom would do.  She would get out the medicine box, hand it to one of us kids (there were 7 of us by the way) she would walk us out the door, tell us to fight outside and to not come back in unless an aterey were severed or bone protruding through skin and it couldn't be taken care of by what was in the medicine box.

Answer 11

As I am reading this question, my 5 year old is complaining because my almost 3 year old grandson is "copying her" and my 18 year old son is commenting "sounds like me and Alisha (his sister) sounded when we were little.  It's perfectly normal.  I used to sit the older ones down across from each other and they had to say 10 nice things about each other.  It made them realize that there are nice things about each other.  At this age though, I cut it down.  It's normal, welcome to motherhood.