Abuse of Power

I've made it no secret that my kids fight... a lot. Marc and I have tried to come up with punishments to head-off the fighting, to no avail. We've tried really "hitting them where it hurts," banning Barbies, PlayStation2, friends, phone calls, internet. Then finally this last thing seemed to work - bedtime. We've always sent them to bed early if they weren't listening or getting along, but now we've come up with a way to string it along throughout the day.

Everytime they answer each other with a snooty little comment or thump each other on the head as they walk by, all I have to calmly say is "10 minutes." Bedtime is normally 9 p.m., and every 10 minute warning send them to bed that much earlier. So from the time I pick them up at daycare at 5:30, until the time we get home at 5:45, they've usually accumulated 3 or 4 "10 minutes". So lately I've found myself looking for ways to disperse the warnings.

Mom: Sam, 10 minutes.
Sam: Why, I didn't do anything!
Mom: You looked at her nasty.

I usually find myself thinking about what time I'd like my quiet, restful evening to begin and then work backwards on how many "10 minutes" they need to accumulate to reach my goal. And today, as I sit here on the couch at 9:05 a.m., and we have a snow day, I realize how long of a day it's going to be, them being together cooped up in the house all day, they could be in bed by 4:30 this afternoon!

My brother and I get along really well now, I just don't remember when that began. So I don't really know what I have to look forward to, another 10 years, 15 years....