tenderhearts 01:11 PM 05-13-2013
I have a group with most 2 & 3 yr olds. Most have them have been here since they were babies and grew up here together except for one. Over the last couple of months a couple of them bicker like crazy, I know it's normal but 2 especially are at each other almost constantly. I try to keep them apart as much as possible, keeping them sitting opposite ends during activities and such but still they bicker across the table or room. Does anyone have any suggestions on what else I can do? I'm constantly telling them to use nice words, no yelling at each other, separating, nothing is working.
cheerfuldom 01:56 PM 05-13-2013
Its just these two? not the whole group going haywire? is there one of them that is instigating or disagreeing with other kids too?
mainemomma 03:46 PM 05-13-2013
Interested to hear some replies to this....I have a similar situation here with a daycare kid and my own child!
tenderhearts 04:16 PM 05-13-2013
Yes it's mostly 2 kids in particular, with one of the being mostly the instigator, there is another boy who is borderline, seems if the one isn't here then it's more the other 2. It's just non stop, no matter how much I separate or try to keep the apart, they still manage on doing it. Like today at snack, one is at one end of the table the other is at the other end. One was pretending their food was a chip and they were dipping it in hot sauce, well it just set the other one off and she starts arguing back, no they aren't they're graham crackers. I said well he can pretend they are chips and hot sauce, well it just kept going with another one saying, no, stop saying then I have to intervene and tell them again it's ok to pretend it's whatever, I can pretend I'm eating a coconut if I wanted. it's just things like this all day long.
JoseyJo 06:41 PM 05-13-2013
For that specific instance I would ask both of them if they were done eating. If they said yes, I would excuse them. If they said no, I would say "Oh, to me it looked like maybe you were full since you were both playing and arguing, if you keep it up I'll think you are done and you will be excused." For us the lunch table to primetime for playing and bickering but this seems to put a big damper on it!
In general when we have 2 that decide they have to bicker about everything we redirect to different activities when they start. If there is a clear instigator that one is redirected only. For example today while we were outside dcg 4.75 put her chair on top of dcb 4.5's chair and sat on both of them. He came over and asked her to move, she ignored him, he tried to pull her off, she smirked. I said "DCG, sit on the ground please, or over on the bench." DCG got his chair and sat on it, she sat on the ground for a minute or 2, then went to a new activity on her own. Wasn't much fun to pick on him anymore when there was no big reaction.
tenderhearts 07:33 AM 05-14-2013
Originally Posted by JoseyJo:
For that specific instance I would ask both of them if they were done eating. If they said yes, I would excuse them. If they said no, I would say "Oh, to me it looked like maybe you were full since you were both playing and arguing, if you keep it up I'll think you are done and you will be excused." For us the lunch table to primetime for playing and bickering but this seems to put a big damper on it!
In general when we have 2 that decide they have to bicker about everything we redirect to different activities when they start. If there is a clear instigator that one is redirected only. For example today while we were outside dcg 4.75 put her chair on top of dcb 4.5's chair and sat on both of them. He came over and asked her to move, she ignored him, he tried to pull her off, she smirked. I said "DCG, sit on the ground please, or over on the bench." DCG got his chair and sat on it, she sat on the ground for a minute or 2, then went to a new activity on her own. Wasn't much fun to pick on him anymore when there was no big reaction.
Thanks, I do just that ALL the time, with one of them I have had him leave the table and he doesn't care.