Siblings are something else. There are really no good words to describe the relationship. For the first half of my childhood I had a brother, for the second half I also had a sister. The torture they put me through! We had our good times, but what really sticks out are those incidents when they tortured me. The worst was when they Duct taped me to a work out bench in the hot tub/work out room and then left me there. Totally not joking. They got in HUGE trouble though so it's all good. I'll admit that mostly they ignored me since I was the youngest. That could be just as bad though. When our parents would go out of town they would tell my brother and sister to stay home with me. Did they? Nope. They shot out of there as fast as they could, leaving me all alone. Some teens would love that, but not me. I was one of those kids who were afraid of their own shadow. Not to count the fact that our house had at least one ghost.
Flash forward to MY kids as siblings. Oh man, sometimes it's unbearable for ME! I think part of the problem is that my oldest two kids are 100% opposite in nearly every possible way. The fact that Noelle (7 yo) feels the need to torture her brother (Adam, 10 yo) at every opportunity doesn't help. Adam has finally learned not to just put up with her and can really dish it out. Until recently my girls were actually getting along pretty well. They have quite a bit in common, despite the 5 year age gap. All of a sudden though they fight something awful! Lily (2 yo) is always fussing and screaming about Noelle playing with "her" toys. Now, they ARE toddler toys, but come on kid! She just can't seem to share at all right now. I'm actually curious what will happen when Liam, who is due December 10th, is old enough to play with toys. Lily is really sweet and shares great with other kids her age and younger right now so I'm hoping she keeps that up. The times I try to remember are the ones when they are all playing LEGOs together or rough housing. I love that my kids have siblings to play with, even when they don't appreciate that themselves.
As adults my siblings and I get along great. I know that I can call on them and they will be there for me no matter what. Just last week we had a drain pipe come loose and spill all that nasty water down through the wall into the basement. I called my brother and he was at my house the next day to fix it. In return we mailed him cookies, a gift card, and a hand print turkey. He didn't ask for any sort of payment even though he had to disrupt his paying work to come out of his way to help us. I hope my kids can grow into such an easy relationship as adults. Some day they will need each other and hopefully want each other.
This post was inspired by the novel The Mill River Redemption by Darcie Chan, about two estranged sisters who are forced to work together in order to uncover the hidden inheritance by their mother. Join From Left to Write on December 2nd as we discuss The Mill River Redemption and enter to win a copy of the novel. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.
My husband is an only child so when the our two kids really get into it, it drives him crazy! I told him it will always (mostly) be like this. But they do love each other dearly.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly the way my sisters and I were growing up, at least when we were very young. I had no interest in playing with dolls like Carrie and Molly. When Carrie and I played a game together, either she cheated (which made me angry) or Molly (then a toddler) tried to join us (which also made me angry, since she was really too little for whatever we were doing). Then, there were the bickering years when we were teenagers, followed by the three of us going separate ways for college. Now, we live in three different states, but we're so close as adults...if only we lived in the same place!
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