>I’m home now with all five kids. The baby is asleep in a sling, and I can hear numbers one through four banging around in the boys’ room upstairs. I have some decisions to make. I can:

a) go upstairs and micromanage: make sure everyone’s playing nicely, and minimize the chances of a blowout.

0r

b) ignore them. cherish the relative quiet and let the pieces fall where they may.

I find myself in this situation quite often. I can’t see them, but I can hear them… and while they’re all getting along marvelously and famously, I know with an absolute certainty (history will back me up), that their unity is on the verge of coming to a big, fat screeching halt. But.. it’s going to come to a halt with or without me. I never stop a fight. I only seem to make it worse. So, I inevitably decide to back off and let them do whatever it is they’re going to do anyway. And enjoy the 5-6 minutes of peace and solitude (baby in sling aside).