The Big Struggle may last for years. It may resemble a war, with seasonal campaigns along various fronts—the homework front or the attitude front or the chores front or the cooperation-and-responsibility front, or all of these at once—attacks and counterattacks, the use of spies and special weapons, temporary negotiated settlements, momentary surrenders, occasional desertions, betrayals, treaties, and victories and defeats for both sides at various times. Unfortunately, as in most civil wars, the whole nation, or in this case the whole family, suffers.
