by Grace Olivia Nordberg

Created on: August 07, 2008   Last Updated: December 10, 2009

For squabbles between my husband and I, we both take off all our clothes, get two chairs, one for him and one for me. We put the two chairs facing each other and sit down in them absolutely in the bare. It is hard to look at each other and continue to be angry. This sounds like an odd thing to do, but over the years, it has worked everytime.

NOW, if your family is having a squabble or fuss, the first thing to do is have a gathering in the family room. Everyone gets a piece of paper and pen and writes their squabble down. I find that sometimes, (not always though) gatherings tend to become yelling matches. Writing down your gripe or complaint, is easier as the others don't see it and can't start bickering about it.

Once everyone has written their complaint or gripe down. . . Have the father or mother, or who ever is 'head of house', read it one, one at a time. Then it is discussion time on that piece. Go on to the next one. This doesn't take as long as it seems. In alot of cases, it combats bickering before it even gets started. I can hear the children now "Don't argue, I don't want to write it all down and sit for half an hour". Rest assured, I used this procedure before in my home and it works.

Now, if you have two siblings fussing and being rather hurtful to one another, have them both sit on the couch HOLDING HANDS for ten minutes or so. I did this with mine while they were growing up and it worked. It also stopped them from being mean to each other as neither one of them wanted to sit on the couch 'holding hands'. It works especially well for both genders as boys won't want to hold their brothers hand, and girls and boys don't want to hold hands. Girls together though, sometimes don't mind it and that usually ends up well in the end anyhow.

Some of us, (not all of us) have an elderly person who likes to cuss and make a ruckus. If you're with your children, let them know that their language is unacceptable and you will come back at another time. The elder finds that it is much more pleasant when family is visiting compared to sitting alone and never having company. This suits well with them as well as with the well being of your childrens mental visuals they have when visiting nanny and or pappy.

If there is a family problem and it involves decision making, let the family come together and put their ideas down on paper. You can either put the ideas to a vote, or play pull the idea out of the bucket. Both ways seem to work on the exception that sometimes pulling the one out of the bucket that isn't yours, results in disappointment. The end result is when everyone is gone off and is enjoying themselves, they forgot the dissapointment.

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