A story from my childhood

[xiphias]

I just posted this as a comment in kimberly_a's livejournal, but I realized that it stands on its own, too.

My little sister is five years younger than than me.

Here's a story about us.

I was seven, she was two. I was lying on the dining room floor reading Lloyd Alexander's Time Cat, and my sister came running in from the kitchen, lept into the air, and landed on my back.

I told her to stop it, and she giggled.

She went back into the kitchen, and, once again,
Run run run run LEAP "OOOF" "Leila! STOP that!" "gigglegigglegiggle"

She went back into the kitchen. This time, though. . .

Run run run run run LEAP I roll out of the way *SPLAT* "WAAAAAHHHH!"

Leila goes running off to Mom. . . "Mommy, Mommy, Ian hurted me!"

Unfortunately for Leila, Mom had been watching the entire interaction, and told her, "Sorry kid, you're on your own from now on."

The time, the next year, when Leila came running to Mom with the complaint, "Mommy! Ian hurted my fist with his stomach," didn't change her opinion that we could work these things out ourselves.

Not even, "Mommy! Ian hurted my foot with his shin" changed Mom's opinion of this, even though, in that case, I actually did hurt Leila's foot with my shin, knowing that she'd run to Mom with the complaint, "Ian hurted my foot with his shin," and get into trouble.

Comments

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

Gee, that sounds familiar. :) My little sis is seven years younger than me, and was prone to fits of violent rage when she was a kid. She also developed a habit of, if you put your hand out to ward her off or keep her away from you, flinging herself to the ground in an exaggerated reaction, often hurting herself quite badly. She would then run to Mom and tell her, with fresh bruises forming, or scratches bleeding, that I had pushed her to the floor or hit her, etc.

I was punished routinely and harshly for such things, until one day my sister had a tantrum and came running at my mother, fists out and flailing, legs kicking, and Mom put her hand out to stop her. Cole threw herself to the ground, hitting her head on the coffee table on the way down, and then jumped up and shrieked "You pushed me! You hurt me! I'm telling...uh...Dad!"

I was in the corner reading a book, and I laughed until I cried at the look on Mom's face.

[goljerp]

My little sister was psychic. You see, she could tell that I was about to hit her, so she would pre-emptively start wailing.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

I just finished Time Cat last week or so. :)

... Okay, maybe a month ago. Time is weird right now.

I haven't sent Mark my resume yet, either. I'm just so swamped, I haven't finished rewriting it! Maybe Friday, after classes and before Shabbat.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

This sounds familiar...Geoff and I, when we were tiny, liked nothing better than trying to get each other in trouble. He's been bigger and stronger than me since he was about seven, so it's lucky for me that he pretty much stopped hitting people when he started kindergarten. My parents gave him a punching bag, and he drew pictures of all of us on it (well, five-year-old pictures) and punched that instead. Emily wasn't a particularly violent kid; she did bite him once, when she was a toddler, but I think that was pretty much an isolated incident.

The message Geoff seems to have gotten was 'Hitting is bad, but teasing is okay as long as you don't hit'. Childhood pattern: I'd say something mean to him. He'd smack me. Mom would separate us. He'd get sent to his room, and I'd get the lecture. Each of us thought the other hadn't been punished at all. However, I eventually learned that hitting people provoked unpleasant consequences (particularly for squashy, pale, easily bruised persons such as me). Whereas the past few days are proof that Geoff has still not learned not to tease. This is why I am a civilized being and he is a barbarian.