Boys will be boys

I grew up with mostly sisters (I have one brother), so I don't understand the need that boys have to hit, kick, punch, fight with, tackle, launch, jump over, jump ON, karate-chop, throw, smash, drop or climb on EVERY thing they come in contact with. I never imagined I would only have boys in my home, but it seems to be my destiny!

Most of my boys' punishments these days come when they fight/argue/hurt each other. Take yesterday, for example. We had been home from school for 2 minutes before Matthew was making fun of Jay's preschool art project and Jay responded by shoving Matthew from behind. The fighting escalated until I sent both of them to their room in tears. I typically separate them for time out, but I've decided to make them suffer together in their room now. "Just let me know when you're ready to get along!" I told them.

Twenty minutes later they emerge saying they won't fight anymore. "Can we go downstairs and color a picture?" SURE! Sounds harmless enough. They each grab a piece of paper off the computer desk in the loft and drop it off the balcony (see above about dropping, throwing, launching everything). They like to drop paper and see if they can get to the bottom of the stairs before the paper hits the ground. They get downstairs and INSTANTLY an argument erupts over which paper belongs to each of them. They haven't been out of their room for one minute! The argument gets physical enough that I yell from the top of the stairs...."Back in your room! Now!" I hope that fight over the BLANK piece of paper was worth it! We'll try again later.......

Here's to hoping for a better day today! (And a little proof that Matthew and Jay do actually love each other.)