For example:
• You never take out the garbage
• You never cut me any slack
• You’re just lazy
• I always have to do everything
• You don’t appreciate how tired I am when I get home
• Somebody has to work to pay the bills
…and on and on and on it goes. As it is with kitchen sinking, the problem with counterpunching is that the dispute quickly becomes about everything. Everybody feels terrible and nobody’s willing to admit to any problem as their own. As for kitchen sinking, the solution to this problem is to recognize counterpunching when it’s happening and try to keep the dispute focused on the specific situation that’s happening right now.
If one person can recognize counterpunching when it is happening and hold back from trying to “hit back,” then both people have a much better chance of being able to focus on the specific problem at hand.
