The joy of having siblings....

I watch my kids interact and I wonder how in the hell they are still going to be able to be friends when they get older. They bicker and fight, they whine and groan, they can be downright mean and nasty to each other..... And yet, when they are alone for too long, they tend to gravitate back towards one another and end up playing with each other until the next "dramatic episode".

I curb the whining and the crying as much as I can. I find it to be rather pathetic. The sniping and the shitty behavior is truly just little people version of what it's like to listen to a bunch of whiny little democrats, bitching about everything being unfair to them. I will NOT tolerate THAT kind of shit. It's strange though, as much as they seem to hate each other sometimes, I can tell that they really don't. We had hurricane Sandy blow through and take out our power for a few days and the kids were forced to interact with each other and play with each other instead of them scattering in different directions to play outside or plug into their electronic devices and shit like that. At night, I popped movies into a charged laptop and they all snuggled on the floor with blankets and pillows and fell asleep like a litter of puppies in a nest of stuffed animals and bedding. And the following morning, the routine would start again. It was really nice. I've also seen my older ones get testy on the playground when some kids were picking on their younger siblings. Or when we're out somewhere, the older boys are watching out for the younger ones all the time and I would hear them saying to the younger ones, "Be careful! Stay over here by me, okay?" It was quite endearing.

My hopes are that someday, the four of them will be able to look back on some of these moments and laugh as they sit together and hang out like best friends. I'm looking forward to that.