My kids will compete about anything.
ANYTHING.
And everything.
EVERYTHING.
I did some research of the Facebook variety (‘research’, if you prefer), and it seems my kids are not alone in this. Kids will compete over who is first to click their seatbelts, who finds the TV remote first, who can finish eating first, who can take the longest to eat, who got the most food, who can fit the most food in their mouths, who can get to the bathroom first, who can stay in the bath the longest, who can stay awake the longest…
Anything.
And everything.
This is a little something for all the competitive siblings out there. Enjoy.
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We had a competition about who could eat the most.
I won it when I ate my 27th piece of toast.
We had a competition about who could run the fastest.
I won it when my brother cried because he was the lastest.
We had a competition about answering the door.
I won it when my brother tripped, and fell down on the floor.
We had a competition for who had the loudest roar.
I thought I won, but dad said it was certainly a draw.
We had a competition for who did the funnest dance.
I would have won, but then my brother showed his underpants.
We had a competition about who could get the mail.
My brother won because I got distracted by a snail.
We had a competition about who could best hug mum.
My brother won – he hugged so hard he knocked her on her bum!
We had a competition for who loved the other best.
I won it when I let my brother sleep upon my chest.
(Inspired and illustrated by my six-year-old daughter and my three-year-old son.)
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Do your kids compete about anything and everything? What’s their favourite thing to compete about?
Aww love this, Em!!! Gorgeous illustrations too!! Yes, our too compete. There were big tears this afternoon over who would climb to the top of our new climbing wall first!
The climbing wall looks amazing! I want a go too!
That is so true! I loved your poem and of course the illustrations!! I was always and tried to be anyway, an equal opportunity parent/grandparent but in the end the kids see it differently no matter what! Yay for a blog post from you and knowing how hard it must be combining both work (at work!) and work at home along with being mum to your munchkins. Hope the back to school goes well when it comes around too. Denyse #teamIBOT
That’s true – there’s always something that seems unfair no matter what! Back to school went fabulously – little girl is loving being back.
If it helps I competed with my sister and now we are BEST FRIENDS.
This happened around age 22 for me, and 27 for my sis…. so hang in there!
Oh good, just 21 years to go! It’s all good – they’re actually very supportive of each other, too.
Once again, I have read one of your posts like it was a children’s book! I love the illustrations too 🙂 My two tornadoes are exactly the same when it comes to competitiveness – who can finish their dinner first, who can get to the toilet first before bed, who can win the game… the list is endless. I’m not expecting it to end any time soon (or ever!).
I love that you picture this in a book! YES PLEASE, PUBLISHERS!
I do remember those days and to a degree it never changes, except the switch has flipped a little and it’s now often about finding a different path such as Miss almost 18 would not put any UQ courses on her QTAC form because that is where Miss 21 is studying. xx N
That’s great. I like the finding of your own path – unless, of course, the best course for her was in fact at UQ!
Love this! Such a clever way to look at sibling rivalry which exists in every home one way or another.
Thank you!
Too funny. I have two sisters and a brother and it was a fairly competitive environment growing up, especially over boys when we reached our teens. You may have read my blog post (what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger) about the rivalry with one sister in particular which ended with her marrying my boyfriend, albeit briefly.
My three girls, even though they are under 3 years apart, have thankfully missed the whole in house fighting and rivalry. I’m not sure if that is a good or a bad thing? Good for me and our household but have they missed out on some necessary skills that will help them later in life?
Happy New Year, Em. Have been thinking about you and wondering how you are getting on with the work/life juggle now that you are back at work with school holidays thrown into the mix.
I’m still not back to my normal swing of things online. Blog reading is down on my list of priorities right now but I’m softly and swiftly killing my to do list.
Haha, competing over boys! Well, I never had that. Thank goodness.
Will email you. x
You’re back! Hopefully it wasn’t too painful a process?