Bickering
b'Per the Cambridge Dictionary, to bicker is \\u201cto argue about things that are not important.\\u201d Bickering is therefore unproductive by design- and as any parent can tell you the more trivial the thing their kids are arguing about, the more frustrating it is for a parent to listen to.\\n\\xa0So why do our kids bicker so incessantly? Are they actually intending to drive us batty, or is there more at work? And if parents are supposed to \\u201cjust ignore it\\u201d until three seconds before the face-scratching starts, how can we sense the perfect moment to intervene?\\n\\xa0Professor Laurie Kramer, director of the Family Resiliency Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says siblings bicker because they can:\\n\\n\\u201cThese are very safe relationships for children, so they feel they can argue and express their feelings without significant repercussions.\\u201d\\n\\nMargaret says it\\u2019s important to remember: we are the mediator, not the judge.\\nMargaret\\u2019s father, who *is* a judge, would recite \\u201cChildren Should Not Disagree,\\u201d a poem written by one Isaac Watts in 1715 , whenever his own children bickered.\\xa0It reportedly served as a somewhat effective deterrent, so you might want to give it a shot.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'