Cain and Abel were brothers, too.

Is there a cure for sibling rivalry? We could sure use it here.

Our three dogs get along better than the two boys at home. No, I can't use the mellow dog cure on the boys. Seriously, I can't. Really. Don't even think about it.

I have been a parent for 25 years. The first twelve don't really count, since number one son was an only child, and then the next 3 years still don't count since there was such a long gap between the first two boys, but when boy number three came along, sibling rivalry with a suddeness that still stuns me.
Number two son was three years old when number three son was born. The baby was in the swing one day, just a few weeks old, and I thought that number two son was going to draw something, because he had a pencil and was concentrating on sharpening it to a nice point. I wondered what sort of art project he had in mind.
Fool! The next thing I knew, the baby was screaming, and the three year old had taken off as if he were shot out of a cannon. I didn't know who to run after first.
I grabbed the baby and took off after the three year old to deal with the situation immediately.
The baby had some pencil marks on his face, not too bad, nothing to cause bleeding or anything, but still, when I found the carefully sharpened pencil on the floor with boogers on it, I felt a little sick to my stomach.

And it has been relentless ever since. Not a day goes by without their dad and I trying to penetrate their brains with corrections, trying to make them see the error of their ways. No matter what we try, we cannot seem to make progress here.
But then I stop to think about my own brothers and sisters. The older brothers were pretty tough to live with. It never occured to me that siblings should just naturally love each other. The best I could do was to just stay out of their way.


It is good to have a family, even if we annoy each other from time to time. I would not trade them for anything in the world.