Sibling fights

I remember my childhood days when I used to fight with my brother. But I just cannot stand my kids fighting with each other :)

They are 3 years apart and now at a point where they can play most of the games together but that also causes lot of fights ! Ishaan likes to annoy his big sister and Kavya lacks tolerance and patience. She just wouldn't let go anything that she doesn't like. Most of the times, the fights are verbal, but then sometimes they get physical too !

The good thing about kids is that usually they forget about the fights in few mins and then play together again. How I wish adults can also forget so easily !!

Guess what is kids latest favorite toy that causes lot of fights ?

Its that big exercise ball ! I got that ball 10-12 years ago and it was hardly used or noticed till recently. One fine day Kavya decided to get it in the house from the garage and started playing with it. It caught Ishaan's attention and then he wanted it too. But Kavya insisted that she got it from the garage and so it was hers. For first few days, Ishaan did not get the ball. Kavya would take it to her room and Ishaan is not allowed in Kavya's room without permission. But then gradually, Ishaan also got to play with it and then he wouldn't let Kavya have it. Some days, they would play together with it. They even named it - Bolly Boo ! But soon, they started fighting over it.

I suggested that they take turns, but that did not work well. They would shout at each other, call each other names and then even started hitting. So, I warned them that if they fought again, Bolly Boo would go away. But the fights still continued. So, one day after they went to school, I hid the ball. It was difficult to find a place for such a big ball and that too where kids could not find it. But it worked out. When kids got back from school, they discovered that the ball was missing.

I told them that if they figured out a way to share the ball, then Bolly Boo would come back. So, next day they had a plan. Kavya agreed for Ishaan to have the ball as long as he would let her play with it whenever she requested. Didn't really make sense to me, but Ishaan bought the deal. I let them sleep on it for a day. And the day after when I went to pick them up in school, I told them that a guest had come with me to pick them up. They were happy to see Bolly Boo!

Its been 2 days since they have had the ball back and there hasn't been any major fights so far. Hopefully I wouldn't need to hide the ball again, but you never know. After all, who knew that a big exercise ball can be someone's favorite toy - so much that they would fight over it ?

Stay-At-Home-Mom (SAHM) calling...

Kids are growing up fast its getting harder to keep up with their activities, school projects, house hold work along with both of our full time jobs. Kids are at an age where they want to try out different activities and its hard to always schedule them in the evening or weekend. Besides with constant running and a long list of things to do, if kids don't cooperate, it hard to maintain calm and then you feel bad for shouting at them.

I had taken a 6 month leave of absence (LOA) in summer of 2014 and although didn't do everything I wanted to in that break, I enjoyed the time with kids. I also realized that life was less stressful for all of us. There was more time, more patience, less shouting and I was also able to spend more time into healthy cooking at home.

With that experience and the back to work pressure combined with odd time meetings, I am thinking more often about being a stay-at-home mom. Part of me wants to be there for the kids since I know they will only need us for next few years, but part of me is having hard time letting go the 15-yr old career. Also, I guess when you work, there is this feeling of independence and confidence along with brain stimulation through challenging and engrossing adult conversation. That will be hard to get in SAHM, but then I don't want to feel bad later for not having spent enough time with kids and being there for them when they needed me the most.

The SAHM calling is getting stronger day by day. Lets see when it actually happens...