Friday, August 25, 2006

Babysteps To Holding One's Ground, Sibling Style

With a three year old son and a 20 month old daughter around the house, I often hear or say the following: "Joshua, that was not nice. Now tell your sister you're sorry and give her a hug." Toys are returned to rightful hands or pushes and shoves are given second thoughts while in time out.

And so yesterday I was a bit surprised, both at what I heard and the grin that I grinned, when I heard some familiar but noticeably different words come from my wife's mouth: "Arianna, that was not nice. Now tell your brother you're sorry and give him a hug."

My wife soon gave me the play-by-play. Joshua had entered the kitchen right at the time that Arianna decided that she needed to open a kitchen cabinet. The corner of it struck her big brother's forehead, causing him some pain and much sadness.

The whole thing was just one of those innocent, unfortunate happenings. But I can't help but wondering about that little voice in Ari's head, gleefully whispering, "Payback."

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