How do YOU resolve conflict?????

Remember, I have said some days seem terribly long.  LAZY days is what summer is all about, right?

 This is one of those days.  Confrontation about who knows what between two brothers???!!!…….

 There were other chairs!  I guess Charlie really wanted the one Cooper was sitting on.

 And Cooper did NOT want to let him.

 This looks all playful but trust me, at this moment there was no playing going on.

Except for these two.  Bobbi Marie thought it was funny and Bobby, I think, was talking about the pool.  Summer brings all sorts of new attitudes.  Ones that might have been there before but because our schedule is all off, it seems as if these little icky attitudes arise.   I know we have talked about resolving conflicts before.  How come they seem to forget from the time it is morning until it is afternoon??  I call both boys over.  You sit over there.  You sit over there.  No chairs, on the ground.  Don't look at each other and think about how you should have handled the situation.  I wait awhile (I think this day it might have been a long while because I started pulling weeds) and then call both of them over.    I say something like, "Hey look boys, you can't pull and kick each other out of seats.  It is our job to teach you how to get along in life and how to act when you want a chair in public."  And my favorite line of all…."Have you ever seen Mommy try to get a seat like that?  Do I ever kick someone out of a seat with my feet and then knock them completely out of a seat?  NO!  (if I did, I would probably make the news) So, guess what?  This is not acceptable behavior.  Jesus would give up his chair for another, not knock someone out of it or try to sit on someone when that person doesn't want to be sat on.  So, SHOW some LOVE.  Say your sorry, mean it and make up.  I love you, now go and be nice."  I think I said something like that.  I happened to get this one on camera.  I should tape all our "sessions"- it sure does help when one says they didn't do anything. I also say, "It takes two to tangle."  Like they know what the Tangle is????  Bobby and I have done the tangle for them but they were not that interested.   Ahhh….the joys of motherhood during the summer.   Sometimes I lay my head down at night and giggle (or cry) to myself, then PRAY.  Seriously, kids are pretty funny.  I am not saying they should get away with it (at all!) but they say and do the darndest thing.  I love them.