Reasons My Kids Are Fighting

I loved this blog post "Reasons My Kids Are Fighting" by Free Range in Suburbia. Outstanding.
Shae kindly agreed to let me copy.

So here goes.


Reasons my kids are fighting:

• because one is playing with the iPad so the other has to make do with the iPhone 
• because they can't agree on a DVD to watch and I make the SPECTACULAR mistake of allowing one of them to watch a DVD on the TV and the other to watch one on my laptop - then they fight over the TV or fight over the laptop - and I have neither TV nor laptop
• because it's Sunday and there is only one newspaper delivered so they can't both go out and pick up one section each like they do on Saturday

Here are more, in their own words:

• because she's singing along to my favourite song and I didn't sing along to hers
• because she's playing too loudly
• because she always wants to watch Tinkerbell and I hate it
• because I never get to watch Tinkerbell
• because she's looking out "my" car window *
• because she always says "me first" 
• because she sat in Daddy's chair yesterday and now it's my turn 
• because she made her teddy bear the girl and she says mine has to be the boy and that's not fair
• because we're playing Power Rangers and she wants to be the pink girl but I said it first 
• because she said she's good with cats and she's not 
• because I gave her one of my magazine pictures and she didn't give me anything
• because she's stretching out in the bath and I'm all squashed
• because she used all the bubbles in the bath
• because she scratched me by mistake and didn't say sorry
• because I had that idea and now she's doing it too
• because I liked One Direction first and now she wants a One Direction CD 

Additional, 14 April 2013:

• because she drew herself pretty and drew me funny 

Image by Piyaphon at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

All siblings fight. Mine aren't too bad. They play together and get on very well. But they still fight every day.

I think my sister and I were worse. I do remember my dad one day getting completely exasperated with us, and yelling at us about how much we fought, saying, "You two fight MORE than other kids, MORE than NORMAL. It's not NORMAL. You're NOT NORMAL!"

Most of the time my kids' fighting doesn't even bother me - much. Until suddenly it does. Then I snap and yell or say something like "Oh for god's sake, can you two NOT play a SINGLE GAME without FIGHTING?"

And in the back of my head echoes my dad's exasperated cry "It's not normal!"
But of course, it is.

* That made me laugh when I read it on Shae's blog, because my kids just had the exact same fight this week.   In fact I think my sister and I fought over this one too. It's a thing!