OT-Irritated
 

Jeez, my kids are fighting non-stop. It's irritating, and I can feel my blood literally boiling and my blood pressure rising. I get a break tonight, if you call going to work a "break". I just wish they would stop fighting with each other...as soon as they get out of time-out, they start again, and putting my 4 yr old in her room for time-out is like trying to get a cat in the bathtub.

When my DD was 4 we called it the furious fours (you know, like the terrible twos). One day she was so mad at me (don't know why) and I went into my bedroom to change clothes and she started kicking my door (I had locked it). She kicked and kicked. I was having nothing of it, so I snuck out through my sliding glass door and went into the living room through that sliding glass door. I proceeded to read the newspaper at my leisure (while she was still in the hall kicking my door). After half an hour, I reversed my steps and finally unlocked my bedroom door. She was finally calmed down and she didn't even remember why she was mad at me......Anyway, my point is that I've been there, done that....they will (eventually) outgrow it. Until then, you'll just need to come up with your own solution. Somethings GOT to work. Good luck!

Okay, let me preface this by saying that my Mom is a little "out there" in her parenting methods. Here's what she did when my brother and I would fight:

1. Physical-Physical, Verbal-Verbal - If he hit me, I could hit him back, but if he called me a name, I couldn't hit him, only call him a name back. You thought twice about hitting someone if you knew they were just waiting to hit you back.

2. If the fighting continued, we both got in trouble no matter who started it.

3. When all else failed and we were still fighting, she sat us down and explained that we only had 1 sibling, and we were going to learn to get along one way or the other. Then she proceeded to tie my left arm to his right arm, wrapped wrist to elbow with baling twine. She said she'd untie us as soon as we learned to get along. And left us that way for an hour. After about 3 more minutes of fighting, it got really funny, especially when one of us had to go to the bathroom.

I'm not sure which thing worked, but we get along great now. Or that could be cause we live 4 states apart?

:rofl: that is hilarious ... but also a good idea as long as the twine didn't cut the skin...

My DD, would yell "STUPID, STUPID, STUPID" at me in a store if she didn't get her way :fr: .... OMG, the first time she did that I thought I was going to die of embarrassment :rolleyes: ... I just felt that everyone must've thought that I called DD stupid at home hence why SHE would call me stupid .... Believe me I don't believe in name calling at all so I never used that word on them, maybe it was mental telepathy, cause I often thought of it :lol:, joke!...

When they got older if they would argue in the car, which they often did, in the back seat, I would pull over, and tell them to get out...OMG the faces on them when I did that the first time, priceless...

My two are almost 20 and 18 and they still have their moments :rolleyes: But you know -- young age, small problems -- older age bigger problems... Enjoy them while they are young, it goes by wayyyy too fast... I actually miss those times where I knew where they were all the time, now sometimes I worry soooo much it makes me sick... Although nothing has ever happened....

:hug:

My 4 yo will beat the crap out of her 8 yo brother. She's an instigator, and not afraid of her 2 older brothers, either.

A lady at work told me the best way to end a temper was with a cold shower. Clothes and all. At first I was like no way. My son was 4. But during one of my son's fits, I tossed him in. It was over instantly. After that, all I had to do was walk in the bathroom and turn on the shower. Instant quiet. I couldn't believe how easy it was. No yelling from me, all I had to do was throw the wet clothes in the washer. I know it sounds evil, but enough was enough. Hahaha - I should have listened to her earlier.

LMAO!! Hahaha! I love it!

What a great idea!