but, it’s not fair!
If you have multiple kids, they most likely fight. That, I can’t help with - but if you know any tips, send them my way! However, this little game has completely stopped the bickering when they have to take turns, what to do when helping out with chores, or any other circumstance when one child does “A”, the other child has to do “B.” What is it?
It’s raffle time! Leaving it all to chance and they can’t be upset with you, their siblings or anything/anyone else.
Showers/ baths for instance: If they fight and complain and negotiate the best they can to go last,(it’s not fair!) and they won’t stop, write their names on a folded piece of paper in a bowl, and declare before hand, and make sure they all agree, “what ever name I pick has to go into the bath first” since doing this for months, my kids have never had an issue. Hey, you didn’t decide, fate has (wink wink).
Cleaning the house: We absolutely had to clean the house, but I’m tired of being the sole cleaner and my kids are old enough now they can start to help. But, I knew this wasn’t going to go well, so I tried the raffle game which was a gamble for me, but I thought, it works for the shower, let’s try it.
On a piece of paper I wrote different jobs ie: picking up toys in the living room, helping mama dust the living room, helping papa clean the downstairs, helping mama vacuum. (You get the idea.) And for fun, I added “clean the litter box”. The kids actually had fun picking out pieces of paper to see what they “won” for a job, and when my son picked “clean the letterbox” we all had a big laugh, cause, it really is gross and that’s my job. But, I got them to laugh and we all started cleaning without any argument or complaining.
See if it works for you as well as it has worked for us. Again, if fate is the deciding factor - how can they refute it?
Parenting is challenging, parenting with all your other responsibilities is CHALLENGING, and you’re doing a great job!
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