The Bickering Box

I have a friend that attended a parenting seminar with her husband earlier this summer and was kind enough to share this wonderful idea. Work with your children to create a box or bag to fill with activities that the child enjoys. When children are bickering or fighting in your home, have the child how initiated the conflict go to the box of the other child and draw a slip of paper with an activity on it. Have the children partisipate in the activity together to resolve the initial conflict. I made these boxes with my boys well over a month ago and although I have only used them a few times, they have worked wonderfully. Granted, my boys are almost four years different in age, so the fighing is not very frequent, but when it happens, its not pretty. This seems to be a great diversion from whatever the problem is and a great way for the boys to reconnect. Sebastian had an easy time filling his box with activities that he loves, like playing Monster Trucks, coloring a picture, riding bikes etc... I helped Brooklyn come up with his activities; eating a snack, dancing around the room etc... Restoring harmony to the home, one box at a time... Good-Luck!