New Kid, Day--whatever the hell!

Okay, so, I've lost track of the days since the great "Leman experiment", forgive me, with four kids, I'm lucky I haven't lost my mind, not to mention my car keys! Anyway, I have been applying Leman's principles for some time now, and I have to admit, the man knows a thing or two! My kids have stepped up to the plate in regards to chores and overall helpfulness. They listen better, well, most of the time. My one continuing battle is with the fighting among the girls. It has gotten better, and I stick with Leman's philosophy of not choosing sides and letting the kids work things out on their own--which, by the way, can be very hard to do, it takes a lot of restraint on my part--most of the time, the girls work it out. Unfortunately, their niceness doesn't last long and within a hour or two (sometimes less), they're at it again!
One very positive thing that has come from letting them work out their own squabbles is that I have noticed that they work better together on solving problems or on agreeing what to do about a certain thing. For example, the other night after a day consisting of several mini-battles between the two older girls, the two girls sat down and discussed the things that the do that get on the other one's nerves. Then, they agreed on strategies to work on these things. I gotta say I was blown away! Then, to top it off, they noticed that Mom does more work around the house than anyone, and they decided that they needed to pitch in more (this came unprovoked, mind you). So, between the two of them, they decided how each of them would contribute more to the household chores. Cue the violins!