We've been dealing with a lot of sibling rivalry lately, and the hostility has all been directed at Mallory. As Mallory has grown increasingly mobile, Liam has grown increasingly protective of his turf. I swear that he spends more time informing me that Mallory is not allowed to interfere with whatever he's doing than he does actually doing it. For her part, Mallory does not care what she is playing with, just so long as it is the same thing Liam is playing with. So you can see where all this is headed.
These are some photos from last week, when Liam was playing with the toy cash register he received for Christmas. There's a game on it where a voice prompts him to insert different coins (quarter, dime, nickel) and he loves playing along with it. Uh oh... who's this swooping in to interfere?
I am usually torn on what to do when these fights happen. Is it Liam's right to play by himself, or should he be forced to allow Mallory to join in? Does it depend on whose toy he is playing with? Sometimes I force the issue of letting her play too (though that usually results in tears from Liam and his abandonment of the whole idea), and sometimes, when I have the energy, I pick her up and try to distract her with something else. That rarely works though; she can be pretty one-track-minded, and in no time she's back clambering all over Liam again.
As Megan says, this is lucky for me, because I don't need to teach Liam the lesson. Mallory will take care of that for me. She won't listen to 'no' and will keep coming after him until he finally realizes that he's got a sibling and life now involves sharing. Let's just hope that the lesson is learned soon. On this particular day, he actually relented and let her play with a few coins of her own.
It figures - this is the one toy I don't want him to share with her - because the coins are small and she keeps putting them in her mouth!
We've been dealing with a lot of sibling rivalry lately, and the hostility has all been directed at Mallory. As Mallory has grown increasingly mobile, Liam has grown increasingly protective of his turf. I swear that he spends more time informing me that Mallory is not allowed to interfere with whatever he's doing than he does actually doing it. For her part, Mallory does not care what she is playing with, just so long as it is the same thing Liam is playing with. So you can see where all this is headed.
These are some photos from last week, when Liam was playing with the toy cash register he received for Christmas. There's a game on it where a voice prompts him to insert different coins (quarter, dime, nickel) and he loves playing along with it. Uh oh... who's this swooping in to interfere?
I am usually torn on what to do when these fights happen. Is it Liam's right to play by himself, or should he be forced to allow Mallory to join in? Does it depend on whose toy he is playing with? Sometimes I force the issue of letting her play too (though that usually results in tears from Liam and his abandonment of the whole idea), and sometimes, when I have the energy, I pick her up and try to distract her with something else. That rarely works though; she can be pretty one-track-minded, and in no time she's back clambering all over Liam again.
As Megan says, this is lucky for me, because I don't need to teach Liam the lesson. Mallory will take care of that for me. She won't listen to 'no' and will keep coming after him until he finally realizes that he's got a sibling and life now involves sharing. Let's just hope that the lesson is learned soon. On this particular day, he actually relented and let her play with a few coins of her own. 
It figures - this is the one toy I don't want him to share with her - because the coins are small and she keeps putting them in her mouth!
2 comments:
I hate to say but it didn't get better in our house, at 6 and 3.5 they boys STILL fight over whatever the other one has, no matter how GREAT or how MENIAL it is. We resort to the microwave timer when fights erupt. They each get 5 minutes and need to pass it on to their brother cordially. It works, but I think Mallory is still too young to understand this one.
When you figure out the answers to those questions, you'll let me know, right?
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