Love or hate. Not much in between.
It's so weird to me.
I do know what it it like to have siblings. That's not the weird part. I have three. So I know what it's like to share, wait your turn, wear hand-me-downs ... All that stuff.
But one sibling stereotype we did not fall victim to is fighting. We didn't yell at each other, fight in the car, draw lines down shared bedrooms, borrow clothes without asking, hit, punch or kick each other. We generally got along. All. The. Time.
Weird right? I'm not quite sure why. I'm sure if we all underwent some heavy psycho analysis we could figure it out, but who cares? We all got along and that's a good thing.
A good thing for me except that it did not prepare me AT ALL for the fighting, bickering, physical violence my kids were going to have toward each other.
I can't believe it some times. All the yelling! All the fighting! They hit, kick, punch, even BITE each other! Why? Because she is not doing what you want? Because he is playing with a toy you have to have? Come on!
And the tattling! Oh my the tattling! I am not going to intervene every time your sister tells you that you are mean. Or flicks you on the arm! And of course every little tap or bump is the worse injury they have every received and they come limping up the stairs bawling their eyes out from the sheer pain of it all.
Can't we all just get along?
I used to try to fix it all. Figure out who said what and who did what to whom. Funny thing though, along with it taking an exorbitant amount of time and energy, my kids' memory suddenly became very foggy. Now it wasn't quite clear who started it or who hit first. Interesting ...
Now, if a tattling kid comes crying to me with their crocodile tears I simply say "you want me to solve it?" Usually they don't. Cause when mom solves it, everyone gets in trouble and there is nothing tattling children like less than getting in trouble when they think they did nothing wrong.
Call it lazy, call it giving up, it's working for now so I'm going to stick with it. I do have to credit my husband with that little gem though. Thanks hun! Without your little epiphany I'd probably be huddled in the a corner somewhere rocking back and forth mumbling "no hitting, no kicking, stop sitting on your sister..."
But its not just the fighting and tattling. No, it's the way they roll on each other. Ask the three of them who spilled or made a mess or broke something and two of them will quickly turn on the other. "He did it!" "She did it!"
Geesh, your siblings, you are supposed to have each other backs. My siblings and I ALWAYS covered for each other. Mine rat each other out the first chance they get.
I tell them they aren't supposed to rat on each other. They are supposed to cover for each other. Then I quickly add "I'm not supposed to be telling you this, you know."
Some day they'll figure it out. Then I'll will wish I'd never told them how to keep mom and dad in the dark.
Well, at least they'll be getting along ...
(A rare photo of my kids getting along ...)
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