So as I sit here at the laptop typing this I hear my 16 year old and my three year old argueing about whose mommy I am while they are argueing about what each one of them is drawing on the easels dry erase board!! Is that even technically an arguement?? The word play is driving me nuts!!

How do some of you control the bickering?? It seems like the older ones antagonize the little one. Then she comes running to me because someone is being mean to her....but from another point of view she can dish it out pretty well too. Sometimes I just want to be an ostrich and stick my head in the sand!! Then it seems after I am frazzled from all the "Mommy!", hollers and I sit with my head in my hands I hear them..as I do now...laughing and giggling together.

So in the end I know they love each other but the bickering back and forth sometimes is enough to make me want to go back to being an ostrich....

Is it just me or does everyone deal with this??

Wow! We have the same life. My 4 yr old and 1.5 yr old have a real hate/love relationship. It drives me nuts! The love part is pretty great...the rest really drives me insane!

You're not alone....mine all argue all the time...you'd think they hate each other's guts they way they bicker and antagonize and pester (and that goes for my grown-up stepkids, too). But I got the shock of my life the other day when the boys' Summer program teacher told me how well-behaved and loving and devoted they are to each other at school every day. Said my boys are some of the best boys she's ever taught and how they really get along. I almost fell on the floor: "my kids, you mean the A-Team, my 3 boys? Are you sure?" I could not believe it, they practically kill each other at home, but I do have to admit, when one gets a boo-boo at home, the others really react to it with care and tears and concern. So I try not to worry too much, and I've also decided to invest in some ear plugs and just let them fight most things out themselves, because if I try to mediate every fight and argument...well, I'll have to quit my day job...that would just take up all my time.

It's tough, it's nerve-wracking and tear-jerking at times, but we'll all survive!

You know...tripleAmom...my friends and aquiantences(sp?) say the same thing about my kids too. "oh they are so polite and so well behaved" and they always flock to one another if someone gets hurt or scared and stand up for each other too. So we do know they love each other down deep...and practice our inlayed politness and courtesies when we are 'out and about'. I guess they just need that raw and unreined freedom of expession at home where they all feel comfortable huh??

That's gotta be it...at least, that's what we'll keep telling ourselves when the noise level is about to peel the plaster off the walls, right?

We're just starting with this. It seemed as soon as my 10-month-old learned to crawl, he crawled right over and grabbed his brother's toy!

i had had enough one day and when my son came in crying "mommy", i turned around, looking him square in his big brown eyes and informed him that mommy had left, leaving suzy. suzy was plesant and could not hear anything negative, she was programmed to only hear good things. he was shocked and went back into the other room. yelling continued. so then my son comes screaming into my room again, this time, calling suzy, and he promised he had something good to say. so i turned around and listened to him tell how he finally got his sissy good!

i busted out in gut belly laughter and now it is a joke in our house when they are fighting and need a referee, they both call for suzy.

but on a serious note, they fight all the time. they both feel that i do more, spend more time with the other and basically love the other one more. this is so ridiculous that sometimes i wonder if they will even speak to each other when they are adults. but my sister and i fought all the time growing up and today she is my best friend.

breathe and bend...