Mediate Michigan

Those of us lucky enough to stay home with our kids this summer know the one thing brothers and sisters like to do best when locked up for hours alone with each other: They fight.

As I mentioned in my last column: Kids Fighting? Take ’em to Court, when my kids were younger, I used to attempt to adjudicate disagreements with a fun little Judge Julie game I made up.

But now that they’re older – 9 and 11 – a more sophisticated system needed to be developed. A recent he-said, she-said skirmish brought us back to the kitchen table courtroom once again for swearing in.

Up until now, working out agreements for my kids tended to mean my son would give up and let his sister have her way. Or, I found out, my daughter was even willing to pay my son for what she wanted. “I’ll give you a dollar if you play ping pong with me.”

Clearly, more ground rules and guidance was in order. Having gone through divorce mediation, I learned a few things from our wonderful mediator Larry Rosen of Through Understanding in Berkeley.

via San Ramon Patch, CA – Julie Knight: Divorce Mediation For Kids.