Sibling Rivalry

Max and Lauren fight. A lot. Sometimes it feels like they fight all the time. Their constant bickering exhausts me and irritates Josh. I finally understand how much it must have worn on my parents when my brother and I fought (which was all the time. Maybe this is just Karma?). Recently, during a really unpleasant argument (usually, Lauren does something Max doesn't like, Max either takes a toy from her or yells at her, and then Lauren smacks him. Shrieking from both children ensues. It is really fun (eye roll).), Max yelled that he did not like Lauren. I told him that I didn't think that was true, but that I thought he just didn't like her actions. I could see him think about this (I actually repeated something similar to one of my students today when he told me he hated his sister, who had just beaned him in the eye with a ball. Sigh.). Today, I walked into the kitchen to find Max drawing. I looked over to see what he was making, and it was a red, heartshaped piece of paper with two figures on it, one with short hair and one with long. Both had angry/sad faces. I asked him if he was sad about something and he said no. I asked him if he was angry and he said no. I asked him why he was making a sad/angry card and he said "no, it's a nice card, see the picture inside my picture?" and he pointed at another little face inside the body of the short haired figure. "This is to show Lauren that even though we fight a lot, I really love her inside my heart." and he held his hands to his chest.

I cried and hugged him.