Sibling fighting (and a poll)

gracendantho26

is my new least favorite part of parenting. They are actually playing nicely right now but I think that's just because they've worn eachother down over the past few hours. And they really do have a loving friendship but man are they competitive with eachother.

So to the poll: Did you and your sibs fight a lot when you were kids and how did your parents handle it?

penguingrrl

My sister, brother and I fought a fair amount as kids.  When we weren't fighting we were close though lol!  My parents generally let us work it out between us unless it looked like we were going to really hurt each other.  If we were yelling loudly or otherwise disturbing them they told us to go outside, but they generally didn't get in the middle of whatever we were fighting about.  If they did, all sides were punished (they figured they'd never get a straight story to find out who was the aggressor) and usually we were sent to our room (which my sister and I shared so that wasn't much help).  Now my sister and I are best friends and I'm very close to my brother as well, so in our case I think a "hands off" approach was best.

gracendantho26

I would prefer the hands off approach too but honestly it disturbs the neighborhood (when they are outside..which is a lot) and it grates on my nerves. It just makes me anxious to hear them argue incessantly and most annoying is when I can hear them trying to piss eachother off..just for fun. So I threaten them with coming inside versus going outside because they prefer to be outside.

RileyMarie

My siblings and I fought al lthe time as kids.....Riley and Zane fight quite often too!  Paybacks I guess!!! 

RileyMarie

I also do a lot of the "if I hear you guys yelling/bickering at eachother again, you are inside!"  because they would much prefer to be outside also....

penguingrrl

Sounds like you're doing as well as you can.  I would basically say that they are welcome to fight as long as they aren't disturbing you and aren't disturbing the neighbors