Mom, She's Touching Me!!

Any parent who has more than one child has likely dealt with the frustrating challenge of sibling rivalry. It's simply a fact of life- siblings will fuss, argue, fight, and just try to find ways to make each other miserable. And for those of us who are dealing with the siblings who decide they are "sworn enemies" every five minutes, it's almost enough to make us want to pull out our hair!

I can't count the number of times I've been driving across town, down the highway, or somewhere else equally important and manage to get halfway to where I need to be- only to hear shrill voices from the backseat start up. The likely culprit? Usually one darling sibling is attempting to touch his or her brother or sister. Yes, touching. Because we all know that the worst thing in the world is to have your brother or sister touch you. And let's not forget the other terrible deed of looking at your brother or sister. Because you know, the world will simply end if he or she looks at you again.

As a parent, I think the most difficult moments are when my children are coming up with reasons why one of their siblings is "bothering" them. The offenses will range from touching, looking, being in the other's "space", wearing someone else's clothes or shoes, and in those really special moments- one child offends the other simply by daring to be in the same room with them!

I'm sure most of us who have siblings remember doing many of the same things with our brothers or sisters. So why is it so agitating when our children do it? The simple matter is, it's just obnoxious to hear the shrill screeching from the backseat, having to dodge children chasing each other (where one is determined to do some serious damage to the other- if they could just catch him or her!), and the constant repeating myself- that gets old too. I didn't realize I had children simply to repeat myself day after day for hours on end, nor did I realize I had children simply so they could terrorize one another on a daily basis.

Then, I just have to laugh about some of the reasons they fuss and feud. Nope, no solutions to sibling rivalry here... although I have noticed that my children are less likely to fight if I force them to stay away from each other for awhile. I suppose they just get bored or lonely without each other to pick on. And, although I have no real solutions to their fighting and harrassing one another- I'll just simply try time-outs, groundings, or separating them for awhile.

And of course, I'll continue to repeat the threat that my parents used- "Don't make me come back there/in there/out there!"