I have one friend who is an only child of only children. She herself has two boys. We have had conversations about how difficult it can be to see her kids fight, since neither she nor her parents ever experienced sibling rivalry. Two boys was a bit of a rude awakening to how those of us with siblings lived.
I grew up with 5 siblings, so I knew exactly what I was in for when I had mine. Doesn't mean I'm still not baffled by the things they fight over.
For this week's Listicles, I give you...
10 Oh, No You Didn't Moments
aka stupid things my kids have fought about over the years
aka stupid things my siblings and I also fought over when we were young (aka through last year)
1. One child clearly has to "go", and is quickly on his way to the bathroom, when another runs faster and slides into position in front of the child about to wet himself, despite the fact we have three toilets in the house.
2. While the table is still being set for dinner, one child sits down. I then ask that child to get hot pads (or some such thing). Upon return, he finds a sibling sitting in his chair, despite the fact no one is assigned a seat and no one is supposed to sit until the table is ready.
3. These conversations:
Kid 1: We went to PE today.
Kid 2: We went to PE today.
Kid 1: We played soccer.
Kid 2: We played soccer.
(all possible, as all grades generally play the same thing at PE each week.)
Kid 1 (to test Kid 2): I am 30 years old.
Kid 2: I am 30 years old.
Game on.
4. Kid 1 was reading a book/playing with a toy, then leaves it on the floor and leaves the room. Upon return, finds a sibling reading the book/playing with the toy and claims, "Hey, I was reading that," despite the fact he left it on the floor 5 hours ago.
5. When we first bought the big van, this happened on a daily basis. Worst year of driving ever. When the radio is on, one child sings along quite loudly. Child behind the singer doesn't like the singer's voice, so tugs on the seatbelt of the singer, thus locking the seatbelt. Singer is stuck in the upright position unless he unbuckles and lets the belt back into it's storage position.
6. I washed, dried, folded, and lovingly placed the kids' clothes on their beds for them to put away. When children are putting clothes away, one finds that he was given a sibling's shirt. He throws the shirt to the sibling. (Oh, I can't tell you how many knock-down drag-outs have been caused by this move.)
7. Two or more kids are playing a game. There is a disagreement about the rules, and someone calls another a "cheater". (My kids have done this countless times, but it never escalated to the extreme I took it with my sister. She cheated (yes, she did!), my mom refused to get involved and make her play fairly, so I ran away. I got about a mile away from home before my mom caught up with me. (I was headed to Grandma's house four miles away.))
8. Child 1 is pouring syrup on his pancakes. Child 2 gets nervous that there won't be any left for him and yells, "Don't take it all!" Child 1 continues to pour. Child 2 loses his mind, despite the fact we have an unopened bottle on the counter. (This also applies to milk, water, Legos, or anything else we may have at one time had in limited supply.)
9. Child 1 is reading a book. Child 2 is bored, goes to Child 1, and says, "I won, you lost." Child 1 disagrees. Child 2 repeats his claim. Fight ensues, despite the fact that they never were even playing a game.
10. Child 1 and Child 2 are sitting in the back seat. Something is in the middle. The thing in the middle slides a bit onto Child 1 when driver takes a turn. Child 1 pushes the thing in the middle back off of himself, accidentally pushing it onto Child 2. Child 2 finds this to be uncomfortable, and pushes it not so gently off of himself, which makes it slide back onto Child 1. Fight ensues, despite the fact that the "something" in the middle is usually Turken and his booster seat.
Ah, kids. Fortunately, we (usually) grow out of them.
As I type, I am not joking when I say two little boys are now standing in front of me screaming, "He did pull my shirt!!" and "He was blocking me!!"
I must go now.
What do your kids (or did you and your sibling(s)) fight over?
Have a lovely day!
Oh my. I am having a major anxiety attack right now. I can't laugh at this yet. Maybe later but not yet. I didn't grow up with siblings (I was 15 when my brother was born) and so I went into this all innocent. Now I have seven and God help me. I read this list and it occurs to me that kids must be given a playbook at the hospital that mom doesn't know about cuz this is exactly the stuff going on around here 24/7. But it drives me nuts. And raises my blood pressure.
ReplyDeleteSomeday, you will laugh and laugh. (Probably the day you see your grandkids acting like this for their parents.)
DeleteMy word, I can't even imagine walking into multiple children without any experience with siblings. It has got to be a giant shock to the system.
Does it help to know your kids are completely normal? (And in your case, I'm going to guess better than normal. I read your posts. You have great kids.)
Two things:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention (I think...)
I'm so glad my boys never act like that...LOL
You're welcome. (I'm sure.)
DeleteHahahaha!!! Whenever my kids start acting up, my mom says, "Well, my kids never acted like that." You're becoming MY mom! :)
Ohhh, so see some of these scenarios. Except the chair one. Miss Violet defends "her" chair against absolutely everyone. Even if she's not even sitting there (or WANTS to sit there), she'll let you know that this is HER cair, and no.-one can sit there ;-)
ReplyDeleteAh, yes. They are so good at defending their (imagined) territory. I guess they have to "own" something.
DeleteIrritating each other while growing up is mandatory. Bwahahahahahahahaha. It happens in home all across the world. Too funny.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺
It really is mandatory. I really wish my kids understood that and quit coming to me to tell me all about it. I get tired of saying, "He's your brother. That's what brothers DO."
DeleteI'm the oldest in a family of three. We always fought about who got which seat in the car. Also, my sister and I took YEARS before we were "friends" and even now it is sometimes up for debate ;)
ReplyDeleteSame with my sister. We may share the same genes, but we are vastly different people. We got along when we were young, but as we got older it was more of simply ignoring each other. Now, we can enjoy each other's company, and even have some fun.
DeleteThis slays me because it all really happens here, too. ALL OF IT.
ReplyDeleteGood to know. I was a wee bit worried that all of this was only at my house and I was outing myself as one horrible mom (and sister).
DeleteI come from a family of 7 children and, being one of the middle children, saw everything on your list - boy does it bring back memories! Lol
ReplyDeleteHopefully, you can laugh at those memories. :)
DeleteLove it! But you know, you don't have to have six kids to have every one of those happen at your house. Two kids who are polar opposites can (and have) done pretty much every one of the things on your list. In fact, I might, just MIGHT have done #1 myself just last week....
ReplyDeleteYes, while all of this happens when 2 kids are there, it is for a limited amount of time. Two kids can fight only so much. When there are 6 kids, two kids can be fighting all day long, yet the same two never fight more than once. Head-spinning madness it can be around here.
Delete(I MIGHT have done a few of these myself not too long ago.)
Is that when you go and take your chances with the bat in your chair?
DeleteIt is certainly why bats are no problem for me. :)
DeleteI most certainly did. I was tired of living in a house full of unfairness. :)
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I were friends for a while, but it didn't last forever. While we did have some pretty good cat fights, really, we fought more with our brothers.
I remember some stories about you "pranking" your sister. You two were pros at sibling rivalry. :)
I'm an only child and to this day hate every minute of it, so I knew I would have more than one. My two boys rarely fight, but when they do, I always tell them, "atta boys, beat the crap outta each other so the sole survivor can be a miserable only child like me". That shuts 'em up purty darn quick. They know Mama is crazy as a loon.
ReplyDeleteAt least they know from where they come. :)
DeleteI always got along better with boys than girls. I was a jock, all the way. Girls made no sense to me, either. I even said, "I will never coach girls." Think it's why God gave me so many boys. Growing up, we fought with our brothers because they were annoying brothers. Now, I am great friends with them. So much fun, even though we still do some of this crap.
ReplyDeleteLol. We used to do 4 and 5 but we also got along well sometimes. Now no one likes me caz I'm miserable.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, we didn't have seatbelts when I was a kid, so none of that going on. As for fighting over toys, my brother once got a broken finger after trying to take the Lincoln Logs my sister and I were playing with.
DeleteOh dear... can't wait until we get to this stage. At least it should be a while until the full-blown sibling rivalry heats up, as child number two hasn't been born just yet. Any day now, though...
ReplyDeleteFunny list!
www.spokemama.com
Congratulations!!! You have a small window before the sibling rivalry starts. Should be right about the time the new one starts to crawl. Good luck!
DeleteKids - our endless supply of stories! These are awesome!
ReplyDelete