(Last Thursday, before Anette came home from the hospital, Adinah and V. got into another World War 4. After I waded in and disarmed the insurgents, we sat at the breakfast table and I brokered a treaty. I asked the two of ‘em, “What rules can we have in this house to make things better?” Then I wrote down what they said, and made them both sign it. I signed the damn thing as well. V. decorated the rules with little stickers of panda bears and surfing lizards. Adinah translated the document into German, then made a big sign that reads “Unser Regeln (Our Rules).” We taped the entire declaration up on the refrigerator door. Here are our Rules.)1) We can be more quiet when Mom is asleep.
2) We can ask Mom what she wants (to do, to eat, etc.)
3) We can clean our room when Mom or Papa asks us to.
4) We will not be screaming at Mom (or Papa) (at bedtime or any other time.)
5) We can disagree, but we can solve our problems by talking about them.
6) We need to be gentle with each other.
7) We will listen to each other better.
