Sibling Rivalry

Any parent will attest to the challenges associated with raising kids. Prior to having my own children I'd heard many stories about wild uncontrollable kids. I'd even seen a few of them myself. I, however, was not going to experience any of these struggles because I was going to be the perfect parent. I'd taken psychology courses. I knew how their little minds worked and I'd be prepared to deal with them. I'm sure you already know where I'm going with this. It took me about 6 hours after Jade was born to realize that I did not, in fact, have parenting all figured out.

One of my hugest frustrations is the constant competing that goes on between them. It's not so much that they're competing that surprises me. It's what they're competing for.

First to grab the placemats when they're setting the table.

First down the sidewalk when we're out riding bikes/scooters.

First to tell Dad it's time for prayers at bedtime.

First to grab the baby wipes for Mom.

Etc, etc, etc.

I can always see it coming, but I can't always stop it from happening. I ask Jade to go downstairs to grab a box of cereal from the storage room. Next thing I know, Logan's yelling and thundering after her, Jade's screaming that Logan's hurting her, and I end up with a smashed up box of crushed Cheerios.

Jade loves to sing… loudly. She’s always singing or humming something. A lot of the time it’s a tune she’s made up herself and usually with words that pertain to the moment. Once she’s come up with it she’ll sing it over and over and over again. Logan gets annoyed pretty quickly and yells at her to stop humming/singing. Well instead of stopping, she takes this as a challenge and turns up the volume. He yells louder and louder to be heard and will finally physically attack her. She’ll sometimes stop singing/humming only to start screaming that he’s hurting her.

It's all just so baffling to me. What's the big deal? Why can't we all just get along?

Jade started school last week. This means she's not around to fight with Logan for the majority of the day, which is nice. The problem is, in spite of the fighting, they are the best of friends. Without her he doesn't know what to do with himself half the time. He follows me around wherever I go. Irritated I say, "Logan, why don't you go play with your toys?"

"I just want to be with you Mom. I love you Mom." He says, wrapping his little arms around my legs, giving me a big kiss right on the upper thigh.

Maybe parenting isn't so bad.