It's all about choices

My kids have been driving me nuts lately. Not sure if their behavior is worse or my fuse is shorter. Most likely the latter. It seems like they can't go near each other lately without something going wrong: i.e. someone getting hurt or things getting out of hand and becoming noisy.

I was at boot camp, not a particularly fun thing, and there were other children around. When my children started interacting with theirs things quickly escalated between my children. One got a little too excited and boisterous and the other tried to calm them down forcefully. They're carrying on, 'Get off me', 'No, stop being stupid'. I have to call out for them twice, they don't stop when I call because they're so busy fighting they can't hear me (or pretending not to). I have to leave the training to sternly tell them off and get their annoying he said she said story. While I'm thinking, 'Don't care, handle it better and behave yourselves.'
I sit one beside me and tell him not to move while the other is off crying because he was only trying to stop the other from annoying the other children and saying he can't play with the others. When I tell the one beside me to go and play I give a clear cautionary warning. Behave! From then on they play well.

In the car driving home the kids get an earful about how they need to consider the choices they're making. 'I think I'll wrestle and hurt my sibling, or play a game unfairly because I'm bigger and I can, or hug so tight they scream to be let go, or try and force kisses upon them when they're asking to be let go of, pretending it's because you care, or jump on them when they're watching tv.' Poor choices.

They get a lecture about how life is all about making choices, be a good person or not. That person is annoying me, how will I choose to handle that situation? I've got new friends to play with, how will I choose to handle that situation? Mum has boot camp, how will I choose to handle that situation?  I point out that they behaved well after I spoke to them, which means they were able to do it, why didn't they choose to do that from the beginning.

Not just because of that situation but because they've been antagonistic towards each other lately, they have a big consequence, a big task, a challenge. They have to be nice to each other for a week and they're banned from technology until they do. If they're good for 3 days and then they're not, like how they were at training, the week begins again. This will continue until they can do it. They will have a week (or more) to figure out how to make right choices and what that looks and feels like. I will be helping them along the way if they falter by asking them if they think their choice was a good one.

I know they can do it, they've done it before. They know I'll be consistent and not back down.