Gimme Some Lovin'

My girls have had the gimmies this week.  "Give it to me! I want it!" "No, I want it!" "But I had it first!" "But I wanted it first!" and on and on and on.....

Around 10:00 last night, I rushed in to the girls' room after hearing Sarah let loose a royal wail.  Through many sobs and sniffs and moans and Oh! the snot, she managed to squeak out that she wanted the blanket Honor was holding.  Honor was nearly as miserable and insisted she had it first.  Before I had even grasped the explanation, it had deteriorated into another argument.  In complete honesty here, I lost my cool.  I believe my words were, "All of this screeching over a freaking blanket??"  Yes, mom, I said freaking.  I know.  Trust me, I know.

They stopped screeching, but kept crying.  I talked about sharing and loving and blah, blah, blah but they weren't hearing me....they just wanted the freaking blanket.

I asked Honor, "Do you think you could stand to give the blanket to Sarah tonight?"  She, mostly calm at this point, said, "I think that would maybe be okay."

To Sarah, I asked, "Do you think you could stand to give the blanket to Honor tonight?"

In her deep, gruff voice, she gave an emphatic "No."

"Fine then. Honor, the blanket is yours.  Sarah you need to learn the joy of giving tonight."

She cried so hard and so loud that she gave herself an asthma attack within 15 seconds of my statement.

We wrapped the fit up gently but firmly and calmed the breathing.   Things were fine for the night, but I knew the gimme fits would return soon.

This morning.....they both wanted the same pair of socks.  They apparently REALLY wanted this pair of socks.  But this time, we had real results and I didn't raise my voice or lose my cool.

We sat down and discussed the word "generously".  We learned in VBS that God gives wisdom generously to all who ask.  The girls asked what generously meant.  I used an object lesson with Junior Mints.  "Remember when I shared the candy daddy gave me yesterday? It was my box and I could have kept it all.  It would be nice of me to share one candy with you.  It would be generous of me to share 5 candies with you.  Would you rather I share one or five?"

*side note: thank you, my darling husband for buying theatre sized boxes of candy for me.  Thank you.

We went on to discuss how God is generous with a lot more than just wisdom.  We also discussed that he wants us to be generous as well.  It isn't a sin to keep your candy to yourself.  But it is good to share and it's better to share generously.  I reminded the girls that they love each other and are best friends (a little brainwashing never hurt) and that it is a joy to share with each other.

Now the weird part.  I gave them a new rule for the day (though we only had to use it once.)  Whenever they disagreed on something, each should ask the other, "What would you like?" And then....they had to give it to her.  So here's what it looked like:

Honor: Sarah, what do you want?
Sarah: The Easter Egg socks.
Honor: Okay, here you go.
Sarah: Honor, what do you want?
Honor: The Easter Egg socks.
Sarah: Okay, here you go.

Honor: Sarah, what do you want?

Sarah: The Easter Egg socks.

Honor: Okay, here you go.

Sarah: Honor, what do you want?

Honor: The Easter Egg socks.

Sarah: Okay, here you go.

Back and forth and back and forth for five full minutes they went until the both broke down giggling.  They ran down the hall, still asking each other what they wanted and giving the socks back and forth.  We shared the tale with Daddy a few hours later and he asked how it ended.  I said, "Honor, let's see your feet."  

Easter Egg socks.  

Well, we know which one has more patience now.

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