The Sibling Fight That Ended in Giggles
On a whim, I tried something different. It really worked.
TGIF, everyone. We just got back from an amazing week in the Bahamas. The foundation my husband works for takes all of its employees (and their families) on a trip each year, and this year it was to Atlantis. We decided to extend the trip for a few days to make the most of it, and we got home yesterday afternoon. We’re feeling extremely fortunate and full of vitamin D.
Traveling with kids can be both joyful and trying, and this trip, while amazing, certainly had its challenging parenting moments. Including plenty of times when I thought to myself, How the hell should I handle this? Or Shit, I didn’t deal with that very well. But on Wednesday afternoon, a conflict arose between my kids and I made a suggestion that ended up working out beautifully, and I want to share what happened, because I’m definitely going to use this approach again — and maybe it’ll be useful for you, too.
In my book, I discussed an evidence-based approach for handling sibling conflict that involves encouraging kids to share their perspectives with each other and helping them brainstorm a compromise. What happened on Wednesday was kind of an extension of that, but tweaked for older kids. Here’s what happened.