Kids fighting in the car.

I read your post and the responses that you have got so far, and I laughed so much. Not because anyone had bad ideas, but because they reminded me of something my mum did to my brother and I when I was about 12 and he was 8. My brother and I always fought in the car. I don't know what it is about kids that for some reason they always decide fighting in the car is such a great idea. I suppose it's because mum or dad can't really do much while they are driving the car except yell at the kids to stop. Which as you know isn't really a deterrant! My mum stopped the car once while we were fighting like this and made us get out. Then she drove off! After we got over the shock of being left like that we started walking home. We cut across blocks and walked down bike paths taking every short cut we knew of. My mum, after driving around the block, came back to where she dropped us off to where there were no kids. My mum completely freaked out. She didn't expect us to have gone anywhere as we were about 5 kilometers from home. She drove around the streets like a crazy woman looking for us for over an hour. When she finally went home to see if we were there, we were waiting in the backyard waiting to be let inside. Needless to say we never got left on the side of the road when fighting in the car again! I've always found that distraction is always a good defence for any kind of kid problem... kids tend to be easily distracted! Have you tried car games???? Good luck with finding a solution, hope you find one soon!

Get a roll of quarters. When you leave to go somewhere, give them each a number of quarters. (Dimes, nickles, or pennies work with younger kids, but teens have to have quarters for it to be effective.) For a long trip give more quarters. For a short one, only 2 or 3. Then, the first nasty comment, or yell you hear from anyone in the back seat, tell the one who uttered it to fork over a quarter. Keep it up until the trip is done. It may seem expensive, but if it keeps them quiet, it will probably be more than worth it to you. We tried this when we took two teenage grandchildren on a camping trip for two weeks. They each got a whole roll of quarters. At the end of 2 days, they had each lost 2 quarters and one of them lost one more the next day. That was the end of the squabbling. The previous year, we had been ready to pull our hair out before the vacation ended.

I always told my kids that if I needed to stop the car, they were going to get it. I never had to tell them what they were going to get, because every time I started slowing the car down to stop, they quietened down immediately. I did not spank my kids, so I know they were not worried that I would hit them.

Over the years, I have stopped the car. Gave them one last chance to stop fighting before proceeding. I have turned around and took them home rather than going to our destination. AND I have kicked them out of the car and told them to start walking home, then i turned the car around and followed them all the way back to the house. The furtherest they have ever had to actually walk was about 3 miles. But the next time they got in the car, they put their seatbelt on and shut up. Now, when their friends get in my vehicle, my children tell them in a whisper "don't make mom stop the car."

I like that. I would be very tempted to just pull over to a curb, tell them to get out and drive off, come back in a few minutes and let them know they can get back in only until they fight again. I think we grown ups sound like grown ups in the Charlie Brown comics, just noise. Action rules. Just pray to god that as they grow up your kids have asense of humor.

Anytime they whinge they get money deducted from their allowence...works a charm. If they want to annoy the heck outta me, they can pay for the privilage!

I usually tell them if they can't stop their fighting that we are either turning around and going home or the next time they will not be coming with me . If this fails my husband usually turns up the music to drown them out .