Don't Point and Laugh, Just Laugh!

"Stop it!"

"No, you stop it!"

This is when I sigh, stop what I'm doing and walk back to the boys' room and I say the so classy parent line, "You both stop it.  Now."

They are on the floor wrestling with each other, fighting about something.  These two have started fighting about pajamas and snacks.  I'm pretty sure one of these days I'm going to catch them fighting about oxygen. Just wait.  I'll keep you posted.

"What is going on?"  I ask.

They both start trying to tell me, this leads to yelling as they try and talk over each other. I hold up one hand and shout, "Hey!" They immediately grow quiet.  Logan seems more upset than Alex so I say, "Logan, what is going on?" He says, "Big brother is putting his foot on the TV and I don't like it and I keep asking for him to stop and he just keeps doing it and . . . "

I could feel my eyes growing wide as I waited for him to take a breath, pause to end a sentence, something.  No such luck, so I held my hand up again and said, "So, you guys are fighting because he is putting his foot on the TV and it's bothering you?"  Logan nodded. I looked at Alex and said, "Please, stop irritating your brother just to irritate him."  He said, "Okay" in a disappointed tone.

As I turned to leave Logan said, "He pointed at me and laughed at me too."  I sat down on Alex's trunk and asked Logan to come sit on my lap.  I asked him why he was getting upset so easily and he said, "I don't want big brother to point at me and laugh. It's not nice to point at people."  I said, "You have to learn to ignore him.  Is there anything you'd like to tell him?"  He said, "Yes." He turned to Alex and said, "Big brother it isn't nice to point at people and laugh.  Don't point and laugh, big brother.  Just laugh."  I said, "So, it's okay if he laughs?"  Logan said, "Yes, if I do something silly I can laugh with him, but when he points it means he's laughing at me and that's mean."

So, remember, don't point and laugh, just laugh.  Words of wisdom from a 6-year-old. ;)