The Great Shift and Family Rules

Ronny and I have noticed our kids have been fighting a lot lately. So much so that we are ready to pull our hair out. We have been trying to figure out what is going on. We aren't exactly sure why this is, but we sure are not going to sit around and wait for things to get better without doing something. So we decided to enact a new family rule. If Mom and Dad catch you fighting, then chores you will be a doing! Starting this last Saturday we started to implement this new rule. We can't yet say that there is less fighting, but we sure do have a cleaner house! What is more amazing to us is that when we tell them to start cleaning they don't argue back about it, they simply start doing the job. I'm sure this is still in the honeymoon stage and the arguing will start in due time, but for now we sit back and watch them get to work. Hopefully the fighting will end soon, or at least be less of it.

We also decided to move bedrooms around again. Joseph has lately started to throw huge fits at night when we take him to use the bathroom. He is completely asleep but he sure does put up a big stink that is loud enough to wake the neighborhood let alone his brother just feet away. Of course he remembers none of it the next morning. We also realized that when Joseph and Sam get sent to their room for arguing the fight just goes from downstairs to upstairs, so splitting them up may help things there. We also figured since he gets up earlier than the other two boys we would try to let them sleep a little longer while Joseph gets ready for school. We made the move today and will see if this makes the morning a little bit smoother. We'll keep you posted.