Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Baby Nuthouse: UFC junior

Why can’t we all just get along?

Anyone who has ever studied history or spent time with a group of siblings knows the answer to this question. It has a little something to do with human nature and limited resources.

As I write this, my 4-year-old son is torturing the dog by blowing repeatedly and very un-musically into a harmonica. The poor dog is running around the house whining and trying to find a place to hide from the wretched sound. I feel for her, but I haven’t intervened yet.

This is because right now, none of the kids are fighting. Lately our house has felt like the Ultimate Fighting Championship headquarters, so my standards have sort of slipped. If no one is physically hurting anyone else, I consider everything to be hunky-dory.

There have been fights in our home ever since our second child learned to crawl and grab, but the brawling has reached epic proportions in the past few months. I’d like to make excuses for my children’s behavior, but all I can really offer is this: human nature (“I want it!” “It’s mine!”) and limited resources.

If you look at our living room at the end of the day, you’d never guess my children are dealing with limited resources. A vast selection of toys and books is spread out over the furniture and floor daily. However, the presence of 143 cars and trucks on the sofa does not prevent my kids from fighting over the red plastic dump truck with the missing wheel.

There is only one red plastic dump truck with a missing wheel, and one child is holding it. And this is why the other two children absolutely must have it. Right now.

I don’t have to tell you that if there were three identical red plastic three-wheeled dump trucks, nobody would have anything to do with them. Whether it is a dump truck, a book about teddy bears, or Mama herself, limited resources will cause siblings to fight.

I guess on the positive side, limited resources will also teach them to share.

Eventually.

2 comments:

Firefly Mom said...

We only have one kid here, and we still have that problem. Only here its hubby and son fighting over the Xbox, until I threaten to run it over with the car, and then suddenly they're a united front ;D

Heather said...

Thanks for visiting my blog! I can definitely relate to this post of yours! I'm not sure what will happen around here when we add the 4th kid in a few weeks!