Sibling Love

The other day, after school and work and before dinner, the Son of Never Stops Eating and I went for a walk down to the park, along with the family mutt.  As we were meandering along, letting the dog sniff the grass, he mentioned that they had talked about texting and driving at school.

Texting and driving is bad, he informed me.  No one should text and drive.  You can get pulled over by the POLICE!  Or you can get into a BAD accident with your car.  A really bad accident and the ambulance will come!

I nodded in agreement.

Mom, he said, I don't want you to ever text and drive. And when I drive I am NOT EVER going to text and drive.  Because it's bad, and I don't want to get into an accident. And I don't want to get a ticket from the police.

I told him I agreed. I didn't want him texting and driving, either.

And, he said, I'm going to tell MY SISTER to never text and drive.  Because I don't want her to get into an accident.  So I'm going to tell her no texting and driving!

To that, I just raised my eyebrows, smiled, and made noncommittal "good luck with that" sounds.

I can only imagine how that discussion will go over with the Teenager.  One thing I feel sure of is that sixteen year old girls don't really enjoy getting lectures, even well-meant ones, from their younger brothers on things they should not be doing. 

My two kids have had what I think of as the typical love-hate relationship between two siblings somewhat close in age.  One minute they would be in the Teenager's room having a "campout", watching videos on TV and eating popcorn while snuggled up in a nest constructed of every blanket we own.  The next day, the love would evaporate and be replaced with the complaint every parent knows:  MOM! TELL HIM/HER TO STOP BOTHERING ME!

Several years ago, I hit upon one of my favorite parenting techniques, called the "Rest Stop Calisthenics Offspring Bickering Reduction Technique". I was on a road trip with the two little darlings to see the Grandparents of No. The two kids had been fighting in the back of the car about everything from where we were going to stop for lunch (I want McDonalds! Well, I HATE McDonalds! I want Sonic! Sonic sucks! We always go where you want to go and it's NOT FAIR!) to "MOM! Tell him to stop looking at me!" "Mom, she's kicking me!" "I'm not kicking you! Stop trying to get me in trouble!".

I noticed an exit sign for a rest stop, so I took it and pulled over.  I ordered the two miscreants out of the vehicle and told them to stand by a table and do jumping jacks until I told them to stop.  They both stared at me for a minute, trying to decide if I was serious.

Start now! I told them, in my best drill sergeant voice.  They looked at each other as if to say "I think she's serious!" and then began jumping. After about twenty jumping jacks, I had them stop and then race around the tables and up and down a small hill. By then they were both out of breath and laughing.  Ten minutes later we were back in the car, one asleep and the other watching a movie on the mini DVD player.  It was pure parental bliss. For the rest of the trip, I heard not a single bicker from either one.

Of course, a day later, the warm fuzzies had worn off and everything returned to normal, which is to say that they were arguing about who got to watch what on TV and complaining about the other one doing something obnoxious like eating all the Doritos or not flushing the toilet. 

However, they both watch out for each other even while they don't want to admit that they even like each other. That is why I think it's incredibly sweet that the Son of Never Stops Eating is worried about his sister texting while driving even though I also know that when he tells her that she shouldn't do it, she'll probably roll her eyes and tell him he's being a pain and to go away.

Sibling love.