Ah, yes – it's summer.  The weather is warm, the kids have been out of school for a few weeks now, and the fighting has begun. Everyday despite the incredible things you've been doing, they're BORED. It's just bickering. They're too close to each other for way too long and it's taking its toll on them, and you. So how do YOU stop the kids from fighting?

My dad used to be the master at ending fights when he'd see them brewing. He had a few methods that I think were brilliant (now that I'm an adult and he can't use them against me).

1.)  Make us go out in the front yard and hug - Yup.  It seems pretty simple doesn't it?  He would make us get right up close to one another and hug.  But he didn't make us do this in the living room, or out behind the house.  No, he would make us go out by the road, way away from the house so that all the cars driving by would see just how much we loved each other in our family.  Let me tell you, that put an end to lots of arguments that would have ended ugly.

2.) "If you guys want to fight, go ahead.  I'll take on the winner." - My dad was a big guy.  He weighed well over 300 pounds and was probably between 6 feet or 7 feet tall depending on how much trouble we were in.  He would calmly mention this quote whenever there was an argument brewing. There's no sense in fighting if you can't win.  So normally my brothers and I would end it before it even got started.  Nobody wants to take on a guy that big by themselves.

3.)  The head smack - This one normally happened in church.  It often felt like the hand of God.  If we were bickering in church, somehow he found a way to reach past the other 5 members of our family and find the back of our heads.  Again, fights ended quickly, often before they started.

Those were three of his favorites.  How did YOUR parents end fights?  How do YOU end them?

Best of luck parents.  Just a few more weeks and they'll be back in school...

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