Me dressed as a referee for Halloween with 3 of my kids. That baby in my arms turned 3 this year!
“HE started it!”
“No, SHE did!”
“Did NOT!”
“Did TOO!"
Don’t you hate playing referee to your kids’ arguments?
I know I do, which is why I fell in love with this idea from Shawni over at 71 Toes (scroll down to the photo of the bench). She calls it the “fighting bench". Basically, when you start hearing the accusations fly, simply choose a spot in your home to be the “fighting bench" (ours is our fireplace hearth). Tell your feuding children they must sit in the designated spot and they must determine what their part of the disagreement was. They are not allowed to get up until they have told you what they did to cause the argument and apologize to the other person for their part in it.
We have used this successfully for a few months now, and not only are my children learning about taking ownership of their issues, they are also learning that when they have a disagreement, it’s better to just avoid getting mom involved, so as to avoid the “fighting bench". :-)
Looks like this referee may be ready to hang up her whistle...well, almost. ;-)
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