Introspection

At the suggestion of many who have been down my road and made it back alive, I decided to start reading "Siblings without Rivalry." I'm about 1/4 of the way into it and definitely picking up some useful strategies for coping with Sofia's acting out issues. In the book, the author first asks that you look inside yourself and examine your own sibling rivalries from childhood. Initially, I thought "What rivalries?" It was only my brother and I, the two of us against the world. No rivalriest here. If there was any rivalry or if there was it was probably more of him directing it towards me. When I thought about it a little deeper, I remembered how my brother and I were put in our roles and how hurtful that could be at times. Maybe I did and do have some resentment about his role vs. mine in the family?

If anything, this has made me a little more conscious of putting any of my children in any particular role. Of course, this is nearly impossible as they seem to be sliding into their roles as I write this. Sofia, the boss, William, the bruiser and David, the victim. This parenthood thing is hard. Sometimes, I think the women of previous generations had it so much easier. No self help books, no Google, no anxiety over whether you were doing a good job, lots of support from immediate family, etc. In reality, I know that life was not better then or better now, just different.