What Do Your Kids Fight About? The 8 Most Common Sibling Fights in Our Household
I love having a large family and love that I have kids who are all close in age and love to play with each other.
What I could do without is the inevitable fights and arguments that start between them. Now that they’re getting older and their personalities and preferences are coming out — the sibling fights are becoming more evident with each passing day.
I am lucky, in a way, because I think that my kids generally do a great job of getting along. I’ve never had issues that result in physical altercations between them and they generally like to hang out with each other. It makes my life easier.
However, when you live in such close proximity with people and you’re learning all about your world, there will be disagreements and overreactions and it can get loud. My kids always seem to argue about the same things though. To me? They’re silly! But it’s all a big deal to them!
Click through to read the 8 top causes for sibling fights in our house (& how I try to limit them):
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The Toys
I am sure this is a common fight between siblings, but I just don't get it. We have a lot of toys yet they always want to play with what the other person is playing with. What I've done to try to keep these fights down is put a timer on the toys, insist they play together, or, when it's really bad, I purchase doubles. (Sometimes even triples!)
Photo credit: photostock -
The Owner
One of the toys that my kids fought endlessly over was building blocks. So much that I got each of them their own set and bucket. Now they fight over who owns that tiny, random blue block. I am going to have to start color separating, I guess.
Photo credit: photostock -
The Color
I made the mistake of getting colored dishes for the kids. Their plates, bowls and cups are rainbow and adorable, but now they argue over who gets which color. The girls were especially bad so now they always get the same color.
Photo credit: photostock -
The Middle
I do not know where this started or why, but my kids are obsessed with the "middle" like it's the best thing ever. They want the middle seat, the middle plate, the middle orange during snack time -- everything. I've got a plan to take out the middle -- adding a 4th child!
Photo credit: photostock -
The Noise
I have one child who is always quite quiet, another who is always loud, and one who has sensory sensitivity to loud noises. The weird thing is when someone is being too loud, the person who is offended... starts yelling. Does that make sense to you? We've now got designated permitted noise levels in each room. If it's too loud, they move to the room with the quieter level.
Photo credit: photostock -
The Movie
My kids and I love to watch movies and they get to watch one before bed. They fight all the time over which one to choose and whose turn it is to pick. I've now stepped in and just play my favorites.
Photo credit: photostock -
The Computer
My kids are really into playing on the computer and my smart phone lately. I love to watch them learn new technology skills, but could do without the arguing over whose turn it is. We've got a timer set on it and will be getting a third device so they can all play during that time.
Photo credit: photostock -
The Bathroom Stool
Three little kids, a small bathroom and a high counters means stools so the kids can spit into the sink when they're done brushing their teeth. They fight over who gets which foot stool and who gets to stand on the stool in (you guessed it!) the middle. I've switched things up so there is one stool and they take turns. Much quieter!
Photo credit: photostock
Photo credit: adapted from iStockPhoto
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I laughed at the building blocks. My husband had three brothers and at one point they marked every individual lego piece with an exacto knife with their own distinctive mark.