
Take, for instance, a scenario with two of my daughters, who generally get along for the most part. I was sitting in the backyard writing the latest article in my notebook (I'm a freelance writer) while the kids played gleefully. Then, all of a sudden I hear, "Nuh-uh." "Uh-huh" "Nuh-uh." "Uh-huh." After a couple repeats of this scenario often heard in sibling rivalry scenarios, I had to do something.
I am known for getting creative with my parenting solutions. I also like to treasure every moment of motherhood, even difficult circumstances because they often teach lessons and make me a stronger person. Anyway, an idea to make a memory, as well as solve this recent bout of sibling rivalry, I quietly slipped away for a few moments to grab the camera.
I snapped a picture at the moment they were going back and forth with the "nuh-uh's" and "uh-huh's." That snapped their attention and they started to laugh. The first part of the parenting strategy was working. They stopped disagreeing. I showed them the picture to let them know how silly they looked going back and forth like that.
That turned the sibling rivalry situation around into a more positive one. In fact, when I asked what they had been arguing about, they couldn't even remember. They hugged each other, said their apologies, and ran off to continue playing. We now have a fun photo to look at and remember the laughs we had that day. If a similar situation comes up again, that photo will also be a great tool to remind the kids how silly sibling rivalry is. It's much more fun to get along.
*I originally published this via Yahoo Contributor Network