Chatted briefly with SO tonight about "blending" kids

His one coworker has a 10 year old son and an 11 year old SS who get along famously. SO asked this coworker how that was made possible, and, his coworker told them that they have personalities that complement one another and they don't pick on or bully one another. SO was surprised by this and asked him how come they don't pick on each other. Coworker said "We laid down the law on respecting the other members of this family first and foremost and never let up. We stick to our guns. You have to."

SO seemed astonished by this. I said "Well, yea. Of course. You have to set the ground rules and stick to them. If you don't, then, you'll have a harder time of reforming the behavior in the end." It's like it seriously never occurred to him that you have to set this precedent as early as possible with kids. *SMH*

And yet he wonders why SD treats everyone around her like a bunch of peasants...

attempting_to_maintain_composure's blog
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Sometimes they have to hear

Sometimes they have to hear it from someone other than us to believe it!!

When me and DD first moved in with DH and SD, SD thought it was ok for her to get mad and hit my DD who was only 5, she was 10. Thankfully DH made a huge deal about it and put a stop to it. We also had to make a rule that the kids were not allowed to talk about each other to either of us because it was SD bashing DD and lying all the time. Now after 6 years of living together, I think their last fight was about two yrs ago. They used to fight all the time. Things are way better now as they are getting older.