To arbitrate or not to .........

Ever since their school summer break began and both were at home full time, Appu and Abhay were found bickering and squabbling with each other pretty much regularly. The best part is that they could get into a tiff over seemingly nothing. Something as small as an eraser could set it off.

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behaviour, and I'm not talking about the kids. ~ Bill Cosby

And invariably, Mommy used to have to arbitrate. This went on for a few days and Mommy realised that this constant business of arbitration and mediation would be enough to provide that final push beyond the realms of sanity and make Mommy foray into the as-yet-unexplored orb of insanity.

So, in order to preserve a semblance of sanity, Mommy stepped out of the arbitrator’s shoes. Said she was no longer going to sort out their petty tiffs. If they got into a petty tiff over seemingly nothing just because they thought there was someone around to sort it out – well they were sadly mistaken – cos from now on they would have to do the “sorting out” themselves. The arbitrator was going to step in only when the situation was serious enough.

It is not difficult to picture the situation without a mediator around. That total mayhem, chaos, anarchy, bedlam would reign supreme was an understatement, if ever there was any. The kids yelling at each other, grabbing things from each other, toys and stuffed toys alike flying all over the house like unguided missiles without any specified destination codes, war cries resounding in the household ..... near perfect depiction that !!!

But guess what ?????

When they realised that petty tiffs would have to be sorted out amongst themselves and more importantly, by themselves – things are apparently being viewed differently.



When they listen to songs, the earphones are actually being shared.

While on the PC, they actually take turns.

The other day, they were busy painting suncatchers and they had five tubes of colourful glue to share and – wonder of wonders – not one complaint about one snatching the glue from the other or anything of that kind.


And these are the suncatchers they painted. Appu chose to colour the sailboat and Abhay colored the butterfly.



And the suncatchers are now resting on the window.



This turn of events now has Mommy sincerely wondering as to why the brainwave of shedding the arbitrator's shoes did not cross her her mind much earlier.