The battles escalated once the boys reached about 2 years old. The two youngest have shared a buggy. Sitting alongside each other led to the occasional high octane wrangle.
One day they each had a pot of raisins. Elliot finished his first. He looked yearningly at Kevin’s pot. Kevin delicately picked his raisins out one by one. Elliot regretted his fistful approach. He made a lunge for Kevin’s pot grabbing a few which he quickly deposited in his mouth.
Kevin screamed at him. Elliot’s response was to take a full arm swipe at Kevin hitting him in the face. Nan intervened. Reprimands were given and all was quiet but not for long. Kevin continued with the juicy temptation, still the object of Elliot’s desire.
Seconds later another lunge and a full blown fight ensued. A slap on the face was greeted with a punch in the chest, another hook and the screams rose. Nanny had had enough. The buggy was swung round. I kneeled down to face them. They looked sheepish.
‘We do not fight with each other. It is time for the ‘NO FIGHTING’ ceremony’. Silence. Complete attention.
‘Hold each others little fingers and mine and we will make a circle’
‘Okay Nanny’… there was the challenge of very tiny little fingers wrapped around mine but we managed it.
‘ Now we sing … we are the No Fighting Team Yayyyy’. This triggered much laughter.
‘Again, again’.
Over and over we repeated it. No more fights for the rest of the day. It may have been a matter of diversion or a ritual that worked. Maybe a little of both.