My children will grow up someday. Now while they're young there is a lot of sibling rivalry. Some days they annoy and frustrate each other all day long. My husband is the one to mainly deal with this. My oldest likes to joke around. He gets in trouble when he is too harsh with a practical joke. My middle son is continuously learning to "loose the attitude" when his big brother teases. My youngest son is small and ends up in frustration because he gets picked on so much. And my little girl can hold her own in defense to teasing when she lets out an ear piercing squawl that is heard throughout the house.

When I was young there was a bunch of sibling rivalry in our family. I had a younger brother, Kelly and my little sister, Sharon. They were two of eleven siblings. I'll have the opportunity to talk about the rest of them in future blogs. We would get so comfortable living around each other that we would end up being rude to each so we could selfishly get our way. As we became teenagers, our attitude toward each other began to change. We became more respectful and more distant at the same time. And then when we left home and became grown ups, annoying your siblings went away because we now lived separate lives.

I thought about this today. It made me a little sad that the teasing that gets out of hand now will probably be gone in ten years or so. So I made a little plan. When my children tease each other I'm going to teach them to temper it with kindness. This will take a long time to teach them I'm sure. I will explain to them why they shouldn't be mean to each other. Danny and I are also teaching them how to have a good sense of humor. Hopefully, I can train them to joke around with each other in an ongoing harmless way that will carry over into adulthood. Honestly, I hope my children grow up to be the best of friends and see each other often.