Archive for July, 2011
Sibling rivalry
I grew up an only child. I spent years thinking that having a sibling would be all rainbows and unicorns. As I’ve gotten older I have really missed having another person to bounce ideas off of or complain about my parents to. There wasn’t even a remote possibility I was going to be willing to stop at one child. No way, no how. However…
HOLY SHIT DO KIDS EVER STOP FIGHTING? My two wake up in the morning and are in a loud, crying, hitting, time out worthy dispute within three minutes. This repeats itself at least four times an hour all the way until bedtime. The problems as I see them are:
1.) Every toy that the Bug picks up his sister decides she must have right that very second. So she snatches it away and then he gets angry and pulls her hair so she gets angry and will scratch his face and so on.
2.) They cannot stay away from each other. Seriously. They must be within touching distance at all times. I try splitting them up but as soon as I turn my back they are right back together. Therefore they are always crowding each other and accidentally bumping into a tower and knocking it over or banging their heads together.
3.) The newest addition to their disagreements is name calling. The Weebles has obviously picked this up from preschool. The other day in the car she called her brother a butt and told him she was going to throw him in the trash can. This brought on wails of despair from the boy even though I repeatedly suggested that he just ignore her.
I am about to lose my mind. It felt like I yelled at them the entire weekend and that makes me feel horrible. After mediating the thirteenth dispute while trying to eat my breakfast my patience tends to wear thin. And I can just forget about leaving the room to do anything. Even the time it takes to switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer or unload the dishwasher is enough for them to get to the boiling point with each other. I’ll ask one to come with me but then the other must follow too. Whenever I get stressed about some aspect of parenting I try repeating to myself “find a smarter way…” but one doesn’t seem to be coming to me on this issue. When cats don’t get along I read somewhere that you should cover them in tuna oil and lock them in a small room together, so… icing?
