Grandkids are uniquely packaged: What to do about sibling rivalry

Tuesday's Thought

One of my friends, Laurie, said in a blog comment that each of her six grandkids is a completely unique person. If you have more than one grandchild, I'm sure that you can agree.

I was reminded of this when our three-year-old granddaughter recently drew a picture of her family. Although she seems to be very fond of her little brother, and she’s pretty good about sharing toys with him, her family picture had just her parents and her—no baby brother.

Our five-year-old granddaughter, on the other hand, loves being a big sister. She’s always talking about how she helps her mom with the baby. She loves to read to little sister, swing her, and sing her sweet songs.

Her three-year-old cousin explained to me that the reason baby brother wasn't in her crayon-colored picture was because she just wanted to be in the picture with her mom and dad.

Ummmm. Reminds me of my older sister when I was born. She said that she was the “Princess” until I arrived on the scene and spoiled her royal court.

But again, doesn't every child need some one-on-one time? Maybe our three-year-old granddaughter just needs a little special time with Mom and Dad — and Nana and Pops.

Now, Jim and I had all of this sibling rivalry stuff figured out when our second son was born. Someone had told us to send a present home to our oldest child (from the new baby) when his brother arrived.

So, we followed this advice and gave our oldest a brand new basketball. Big brother was excited! And weren’t we smart!

Until little brother left the hospital, that is.

I’ll always remember the day when little brother came home from the hospital. We put the little fellow on a baby blanket in the family room and his big brother walked in with his basketball—he was ready to play. ... And baby brother couldn’t even roll over yet.

Big brother looked at us with his beautiful blue eyes and asked, “What kind of baby is this any way?”

Guess he was ready for an afternoon of pick-up basketball.

What funny stories do you have about the differences in your grandkids? How have you encouraged a gradchild to welcome a new baby into his/her home? How have you helped an older grandchild feel special?

He is able,
Mary
www.marymaywrites.com