It's Official

So, as of today, 2 things are official.  I know, you are excited aren't you??

The first thing is: My kids are to the age, where they are going to fight with one another.  Gone are the days of peaceful playing, and sweet gestures.  Oh, I still get those sometimes, but they are interlaced with screams and pinches :).  So, as I learn to gauge when I should step in, and when I should let them work it out--I realized the other officialdom.  (Didn't think that was a word, did you?)

The 2nd is, that I am becoming my parents.  Today, as I stepped in one of those "bickering," moments-- I felt at my wit's end.  They had been at each other for 2 days straight, and I was going crazy (to put it mildly).

So, I did what anyone would do, in my situation...I told them I was tired of them fighting, and that they had to hug until, they wanted to be nice to each other.  Hmmmm..wherever did I get that from?

Oh, yes...I remember many a time, that I had to hug a sibling after fighting with them.

Was it a just punishment?  It didn't kill us, though we were secretly pinching and hugging each other as tight as possible....out of love of course.

Does it work?  Probably not--(Sorry, mom and dad)...I think it just frustrates the kids more, because they do not want to hug each other. You can't force someone to "like" each other.  Because afterall, that is what it is about.  We kids, and my kids love each other--they just have to learn to get along.  Sometimes that takes a year or two--sometimes, 25 or 30.

I made the kids hug today, simply because I just didn't know what else to do. I wanted them to get along, and I felt as if I had tried everything else.  I was going to "make" them get along, whether they liked it or not ;).

So, as I stood there telling them to hug, my 3 year old son, looked at me as if I was crazy.  Maybe I was.  He didn't understand the punishment, and his sister was all too willing to hug him....which made him even more wary.  He didn't even try to get close enough for her to wrap her arms around him.  Instead, he asked for a spanking.  I had to laugh, and I didn't spank him.  He must have thought, that since I was so serious, this must be the worst punishment in the whole entire world!

So, we had a discussion- and I hope that they understood this very important lesson:  When they fight, momma isn't happy, and when momma isn't happy--ain't nobody happy.  Or something like that.

All things aside, I think I have it pretty good--Look, how sweet they are together....