Ciara: “ASHLEY! Colin is annoying me and I really want to hit him! Make him go away!” Me: “I’m glad you’re using your words!  Colin…Get away from her.” [10 seconds later, Colin comes downstairs crying] Me: “Sit on the stairs.  Time out.” Colin: “But Ciara just hit me first!” Me: “OK.  And what did you do to make her hit you?” Colin: [silence] Me: SPEAK! Colin: “I hit her in the face with a train.” Me: “Thought so.” Two morals to the story: 1) Little brothers are so damn annoying they deserve to hit most of the time.  2) I could ask these kids all day “Please, tell me what you did…” and they’ll stare for days without words.  Yell “SPEAK” really loudly and they spill the beans immediately.  Kind of barbaric, but it works.

Ciara: “ASHLEY! Colin is annoying me and I really want to hit him! Make him go away!”

Me: “I’m glad you’re using your words!  Colin…Get away from her.”

[10 seconds later, Colin comes downstairs crying]

Me: “Sit on the stairs.  Time out.”

Colin: “But Ciara just hit me first!”

Me: “OK.  And what did you do to make her hit you?”

Colin: [silence]

Me: SPEAK!

Colin: “I hit her in the face with a train.”

Me: “Thought so.”

Two morals to the story: 1) Little brothers are so damn annoying they deserve to hit most of the time.  2) I could ask these kids all day “Please, tell me what you did…” and they’ll stare for days without words.  Yell “SPEAK” really loudly and they spill the beans immediately.  Kind of barbaric, but it works.