Rivalry

Being siblings means they will fight about anything and everything, no matter how much they love each other.

Now that little A is older and more capable of expressing herself (and equally capable of instigating fights), I try to refrain from playing referee and let them figure it out between themselves. Of course I still have to step in frequently, but I let them try a bit before going in and helping them negotiate their way out.

I'd understand when they want to be first to do something fun, or more often, is when they compete for our undivided attention. I couldn't believe it when they both wanted to take the broom from me while I was sweeping the deck. First it was OO wanting to yank the broom, then it was Little A yelling "NO!" while hitting OO. When I told them to take turns, the mild tempered OO went over and kicked little A, before I called a halt to the escalating action. It was easy to get OO to understand her mistake and apologize to her sister, but it took significantly longer trying to calm the hot-headed little A down. I'm sure she knew she shouldn't have hit her sister, but to get her to admit it and make good was another story. The defiance that was evident in her eyes confirmed that it's going to be, hmm, an interesting journey trying to parent this wild little thing.

After much talking and negotiating, we found a way to share the broom. What normally would take me 2 minutes took something like 20, and the deck wasn't even clean after all that.

No wonder why I'm exhausted every day and the house is still a perpetual mess!