A Peace Treaty
Sisters, it seems, spend their time together either giggling and sharing secrets or quarelling like cats and dogs. My little girls are no different: one minute they are best friends, then in the blink of an eye they turn into bitter rivals.
After one such nerve-racking squabble, I sat down with them to call a truce and create a lasting Peace Treaty. Together we vowed to:
- Be kind to each other. We will not use our hands, or words, to hurt each other.
- Be orderly. We will only eat when seated nicely at the table. Food tastes better when you take time to appreciate it.
- Be clean. We will keep our living spaces neat and tidy.
- Be gentle. We will not scream at each other. We may hear a person yelling, but no one truly listens when words are yelled instead of spoken.
- Be happy (and share your joy with others). We won’t be jealous and possesive of our belongings, instead we will happily take turns playing with them.
Once we had worked out the finer points of our Peace Treaty, we each signed it. It’s been two weeks since my girls committed themselves to maintaining harmony at home, and so far their time together has been more relaxed and enjoyable for us all.
As it turns out there might be a reason why the word treat is in treaty, as nothing is better than hearing your children laugh and enjoy each other’s company.
Triple kisses, Melissa Sunjaya.