she heard the kids fighting

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KLPNO

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Hello everyone.

From the book Psychology of Hope by Charles Snyder.

To hear Katie talk, it was obvious she had always been the one to take care of other people. When she was growing up, as the oldest daughter she babysat for her two younger brothers. Additionally, as the family problem solver, she tried to settle squabbles. She was good at taking care of people and previously had lots of mental and physical energy to get things done.

Something changed, however, on her fortieth birthday. Looking at her tired face in the bathroom mirror, she heard the kids fighting in the other room and immediately sank to the floor crying. In the next days she found it extremely hard to do the normal things involved in keeping the family functioning. Although she had done this stuff for years, Katie finally reached a point where she was out of energy. As she told the group about her burnout, she quickly found understanding and support for what she was going through.

What kind of fighting is the text talking about? Fighting in the sense of physical struggle (punching and/or kicking each other) or fighting in the sense of quarreling/having an argument?
 
I think it is more likely to mean the first. The writer would have written "quarelling/arguing" if it wasn't physical.
 
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