Don't Fight Over Dirty Crackers

Brothers and sisters will fight over just about everything--toys, which movie to watch, and food.  Even dirty food.

 I'd love to tell you that I sweep and mop the floor once a week, but that would be lying and I prefer to use my lies on the kids.  It's an effective way to get them to do your bidding.

In reality, I mop once a month or maybe every two months.  Let's just say the floor has to look really, really dirty.  Today it was.

When I saw Libby dining on floor scraps, I figured maybe it was time to do something about it.  Normally, I would call the dog inside and let her have a go at the crackers. It saves me from both having to sweep and feed the dog. The baby was enjoying herself too much and I hadn't fed her lunch yet, so I figured, two bird with one stone right?  A clean floor and a full baby.

 Whenever I sweep and mop, I have to remove all the chairs from the dining room.  It makes sweeping easier and it keeps the kids occupied.  There's just something about chairs being lined up that fascinates kids.  They race across them, jump over them and jump off of them. 

Whatever.  It gives me ten minutes to clean up and keeps them from stomping through my dirt pile.  It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt though.

It's usually Leah that gets hurt, this time was no exception.  The poor girl cries if you look at her the wrong way, so it's hard to know exactly why she cries sometimes.  I had assumed that brother pushed her off of a chair, but before I could start lashing out at the boy, she showed me her broken cracker.

Turns out that she had dropped her cracker on a chair while playing, it broke, and then she and her brother were fighting over whose dirty cracker it was.  I understand that you kids are hungry every five minutes, but you're fighting over one cracker. 

It's not going to do much to alleviate your hunger pangs in the first place.   Plus, not only is it broken into ten different pieces, it has also been on the floor prior to Leah's handling of and subsequent dropping of said cracker.  You are fighting over a broken, dirty cracker.  Go to your rooms.

 How I love sending the kids to their rooms.