Stop The Sibling War In Its Tracks

“It’s my turn!” “You picked last time” “I hate that show” “I’m telling, MOM!!!”

How many of you have heard these lines during a sibling war with what feels like a continuous struggle when it comes to picking something to watch, either a movie or television show? For our family, it feels like a constant struggle to balance what I lovingly refer to as the sibling war.

Our two boys are seven years apart, which was not really by choice. We tried for many years for a second child and it just didn’t seem to be happening. When we finally fell pregnant, it was such a surprise! Our eldest was so excited to be a big brother finally and when that day came, he was definitely (and still is) the best big brother.

The balloon popped when our youngest learned that he too gets to watch all of the shows he wants to watch and learned how to choose them using the remote (like seriously how do kids learn how to use that remote so quickly?!!). The problem? He wanted to watch preschool theme shows and his older brother was horrified at the thought, which I can’t quite relate to as I love cartoons and give me Paw Patrol and cartoons  any day!

So how do we make this work?

We have tried many methods which includes rotating movie nights, keeping track of who chooses the next movie on a calendar and even rock, paper, scissors! Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how fair you keep it someone always ends up with tears.

The only good thing out of this is that Netflix gets the sibling wars (I wonder how many of them struggle weekly at home with their own kids??) and have created a unique way to bridge the age gap and make everyone happy. With three unique playlists that are geared to a broad age group, you will find movies and shows that will make every child happy.

These three unique playlists are:

• A Tale of Two Distant Ages (our number two choice)
• Sugar and Spice
• Meet in the Middle (our go to playlist)

While it will never be perfect, coping with these tricks sure does make life that much easier at home (especially since summer break is around the corner!). How do you tame the sibling war?

Disclosure: I am a Netflix StreamTeam Member and receive perks with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.