Bickering Kids Ideas

Hi Tawra,

I homeschool my two girls ages 12 and almost 8. It seems we go thru stages around here, for weeks at a time all is pretty good between the kids, and then for several weeks the bickering can get pretty bad, enough to make me crazy!

Here is what I have done. Hope this helps you!!

1. Do the checker system. For every day the kids act decent(I don't mean perfect, just a pretty good day) and don't fight hardly ANY, if give them a checker. If they have a bad day and fight quite a bit, they don't get a checker. I dole out the checker at bedtime. After they have accumulated 5-7 checkers they get a special treat or reward. An ice cream cone, a board game with mom, time alone with a parent, a candy bar, whatever. There is all kinds of possibilities. Some people might say this is bribery, but I don't really care because I think it is a rewards-type system and it works great! Kids work well if they are rewarded in school, potty training, ect for all kinds good behavior. We don't do the checker system all the time, just when I see I need to do something because things have gone downhill.

2. For days when things are not going well at all I bring out the JAR OF DOOM. Get a jar and label it the jar of doom and put little slips of paper inside that each have a household job written on them. If the kids are fighting over the same old thing again or being naughty, really rude or grouchy, ect. Let them draw a paper from the jar of doom. Bad attitudes clear up pretty quick and the house becomes a lot cleaner :-)

Erica