Sibling… Love?
Jordan and her brother Cameron are going through a phase… And I realize it’s a phase that will last through the majority of their childhood. It’s a combination of total love and complete and utter rivalry and unexplained anger. The two of them will have a sweet moment like this picture I captured last week and then minutes later they’re arguing over the pronunciation of a word or whether a circle is a square. I swear they will argue over ANYTHING. I’m not sure how to stop it beyond asking them to go into different rooms.
I have three different tactics when they argue.
1) Beg them to stop. (Or demand they stop.)
2) Order them to separate.
3) Let them battle it out. (I usually have to leave the room to let this happen)
The letting them battle it out usually ends with one or the other kid finding me and tattling on the other sibling. Honestly, Jordan came down this evening to tattle on Cameron for calling her a tattle tale. I’m not kidding.
I realize the sibling rivalry thing is a part of parenting that requires a high level of patience. I also realize this is punishment for the years of fighting between my brother and I. But seriously. They should at least fight over more productive things. I don’t know what those would be. I’ll let you know when I can think of that.
Hey Jen…. take the insignificant arguments while you can. My brother and I fought ALL THE TIME when we were younger. Then, one day, everything changed and we started ganging up on our mother when one f us would fight with her. I really think my mother preferred the battling between us than our battles with her. It is that of the loving relationship of siblings
we’ve got the same thing going on over here. but i think it’s these sweet, loving moments that are the real indicator of their relationship. the fighting is incredibly annoying, but i think as long as we’re seeing genuine love and and affection on a regular basis, things are just as they should be. 🙂