*** finding the entertainment in everyday life ***

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Power of the Eldest Sibling

Over the monitor in the kids bedroom this morning I heard:

Shelagh: "Buddy, if you do x, you can't come to my birthday party" (mind you, her birthday is in May)
Rory: "Okay, I won't do it. Can I come to your party now?"

It immediately brought back memories of me saying to my younger sister something along the lines of

Me: "If you do x/If you don't tell mom (interchangeable), I'll be your best friend." "I'll buy you a pack of gum" was also a viable alternative.
Sister: "Okay" (within 5 seconds).

I don't know if this more strongly accentuates both my and Shelaghs role of bully/leader in the sibling circle or if it touches on the pliability/wanting to please/follower nature in the 2nd child. Something to noodle today...

Shelagh also likes to throw out there...
  • ...then you can't come to my gingerbread house (it is the biggest privilege to be invited to Shelaghs imaginary gingerbread house and adults are frequently excluded for inforcing rules)
  • ...then you can't be my mommy anymore (this is rare, but it has been known to come out in the peaks of frustration)
  • ...then I'll break x or y (which she never does...just threatens)

She's very creative. Also, I owe my sister a million packs of gum.

1 comment:

Shannon said...

Oh boy - what we have to look forward to at our house!