5 Reasons My Kids Fight Like Cats and Dogs

Some siblings fight like cats and dogs. I know my sister and I did. My poor mom had to suffer through many-a phone conversation from my sister or me, calling on her to break up a fight while she was 45 minutes away at work. Poor woman. Thankfully, my girls get along pretty well. They don’t always enjoy the same things, but they can play together well when they want to. In fact, they told me recently that they are better than some friends they have that are brothers, because the boys fight a lot and my girls “don’t like fighting.”
Well, for the most part, that’s true, as long as…
1.They don’t want to “be” the same character on TV. Do your kids do this? Every show my girls watch, they decide which character they want to “be,” whether it’s Minnie Mouse, Elsa, or the pretty girl in the red dress on some commercial. Fortunately, they usually have different tastes or can come to a non-confrontational conclusion pretty quickly, but occasionally this is not so. When this happens, watch out! It’s fits and screams and hits, little girl style. I am often in that tenuous position of, “Do I step into this one or just let them figure it out?”

2.They want the same toy. It doesn’t stop with toddlers. My girls will hit and fight if they want the same stupid piece of plastic at the same time. Ugh! It’s so annoying. It’s plastic, people, choose a new toy and move on!

3.There are an uneven number of kitties. For whatever reason, my girls have an affinity for cats. We have nearly a dozen stuffed cats in our household. Usually, we can divide them evenly. But occasionally some will go AWOL and an international treatise of war is needed to keep my girls from feuding over who can have which toy cat.

4.Big sister has her say. My older daughter is just like her father and cannot STAND to be ignored. If she is talking and someone walks away or won’t look at her when she speaks, I better be quickly on hand, because one thing big girl can’t handle is to be ignored. And little sis is going to get a whack on the back if I don’t step in quickly enough.

5.Mom can quickly and accurately say whose turn it is to pick a show. Gosh, you’d think the fate of the world depended on whose turn it was to pick a stinking TV show. Really!? It’s 25 minutes of your life! Get over it. But, in their little worlds, this is of the utmost importance. Sheesh!

Written By: Lisa Liebling