Editor’s note: The author explains her family’s Lenten commitment to take the Love Dare here . Regular updates will be posted all through Lent. Click here to catch up on previous posts. Due to CE staff scheduling, we will not be able to keep up with these posts daily, but we will make sure they are all posted, even though it means they run past Lent. ]
Today we made a family list of fair fighting rules.
“If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” — Mk 3:25.
When my husband and I were first married, we posted a list of fair fighting rules. When we taught pre-cana we suggested this idea to other couples. What we had not done is update this idea with our children. We invited the kids to give us ideas on what rules we should have. Here’s what they came up with:
No calling names.
No swearing.
Don’t say untrue things.
No screaming at the top of your lungs.
Don’t say mean things.
Don’t bring up past fights.
If it is not your fight, don’t get involved.
Don’t start fights that aren’t your business (drawing attention to someone’s messy room or homework that isn’t done, etc).
Don’t say “stupid.”
(And… my husbands attempt to be funny….yes, he made us write it down) Don’t bring the dog into the fight.
We have already seen this in action when a fight erupted after dinner. Let’s hope we see a positive outcome from the fair fight rules.
Lord, disagreements are going to happen in families. Help us to discuss things without hurting each other with our words.
