Can't We All Just Get Along?

Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer posted this hilarious tip yesterday, which really hit home with me:

My tip for today is actually not my own; it was offered by a reader, Liz C.:

If the kids can't use a civil tone, they get "grounded" to speaking in a British accent all day. If they're still struggling to be decent, they're grounded to singing everything. And one day, they were on it so bad, they weren't allowed to speak unless they could sing in RHYME.

The older my kids get, the more creatively I have to outsmart them.  Once when they were arguing in the car I ordered them to turn away from each other and imagine they'd been sent to their rooms; I sweetened the deal with the threat that if they kept fighting they'd go to their rooms for real once we got home.  After a few silent moments I asked one, then the other, to describe what they were doing in their "rooms," where they were sitting, what they were building or reading or playing with.  They got so involved in tale-spinning that they forgot their fight; now when I start building up steam during an escalating argument, they sometimes eagerly suggest that I send them to their rooms again.

Comments

[MyStarbucks]

My oldest was mouthing off in the car one time and I made him get out and walk home.