Role Reversals

I mentioned the other day that my wife and I have five children at home. They are currently 10, 8, 5, 2, and almost 2 weeks old. When our newborn came home from the hospital, our 5-year old was moved from the center row of our minivan to the back row, in-between our 10- and 8-year olds. Thankfully, the older two are out of car seats and our 5-year old's car seat is quite narrow considering it's a car seat.

Our 5- and 8-year old often clash while at home. Forcing them to sit next to each other... well you can imagine how well it's been going over during these first two weeks. My Dad used to use the saying "That went over like a fart in church." and that probably isn't far from the truth. Not that I really understand what his saying ultimately means. It must be a generational thing. Our 5-year old tends to be the target for our 8-year old's annoyance and we often find ourselves yelling at him to leave his younger sister alone.

The other day, I had to explain to both of our children that they are now sitting next to each other like the way they are until the day we can get a larger minivan. Our 8-year old seemed to take the statement in stride and our 5-year old gave me her patented "I don't want to get in trouble" treatment. Of course, that statement wasn't meant to state that either of them was in trouble, just to happily remind them that they need to be nicer as they're pretty much stuck in that state of minivan placement.

We decided to head to our regular Tuesday dinner outing, and things went quite well during the drive to dinner. The kids were jovial with each other and when one was begging to pester, the other turned their head and gave the silent treatment. Looks like a win right? That's what I thought, until we went home.

After dinner on Tuesdays, we hit the nearby park to let the kids unwind and get some of their pent-up energy out. This usually works pretty well and we often find the ride home quieter than the ride to dinner when tiredness begins to set in (although that doesn't always happen). Instead of repeating what was a relatively pleasant drive out, our 5-year old decided to reverse roles with our 8- and 10-year olds and become the ultimate little sister pest.

Wow... that definitely went over like a fart in church. Our older two were nothing short of angry as their little sister continually pestered them with any means she found possible. And no matter how many times they complained about it or tried to stop her, she refused to relent. My wife and I even had to attempt to step in, which is quite difficult when you're driving down the highway in a minivan.

I was angry; I'll admit it. I was angry that our daughter would do that even after the talk we had earlier that day and the fact that I don't think she's ever gone to those lengths of pestering before. However, no matter how angry I got, I was also laughing inside. Something deep down wanted to burst out and yell out "You can dish it out, but you can't take it?!"

Yeah... that would have been childish. But I couldn't help thinking how funny it was that the roles had completely reversed and now the older two were essentially getting a taste of their own medicine. This doesn't give my daughter an excuse to act that way, but it sure made for an interesting drive home.

As you may have noticed, I'm not using my family's name in this blog. This is done purposefully. However, because typing x-year old is so awkward, I may use abbreviations in the future: R, N, H, W, and I from oldest to youngest. K is my wife. That seems much less awkward and easier to read!