Right now we are dealing with a big problem in our house; fighting. Our kids have always bickered, it's normal, especially with 2 so close in age. The last month though, it has taken on a whole new level.
Our son always wants to play with his sister and it always ends with her hurting him multiple times. Whether it's her pushing him, kicking him, hitting him, or throwing a toy at him. Time outs haven't been working, talking to her hasn't been working. This past weekend after her 3rd warning we took her toys away (since they seem to be the cause of the issues, she hits him for touching something, or throws one at him). Today we are right back in the same spot. He wanted to play with her and in less than an hour she has already hit her 3 strikes.
Today I am trying something new and asking her how she can fix things. Right now she is still upset so her answer is "I can't fix anything", but I am trying to show her that she can think of something to help the situation. I think the most frustrating thing to me about it, is that Bret just really wants to play tea party with his sister but she doesn't want him to touch any of her stuff (but it's perfectly fine for her to touch all of his stuff).
I've gotten so frustrated by all this, that I have gone right back to yelling at her constantly (which I know doesn't help at all, but sometimes I feel like it's the only way she hears my voice). So today I stopped the yelling and just asked her why she feels she needs to hit him. So far she only answer is "I don't know" and "I can't fix anything".
We do separate play time almost every day, but Bret always feels like that is a punishment because he loves playing with her in her room (until he gets hurt of course). We haven't gotten the time to do separate time for each of them with Mommy and Daddy yet (Daddy has a full work schedule), but I am also thinking that doing that and giving them some alone time will help with the amount of fighting that goes on in this house. If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to share them.
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