It's Great When they all play together

We've all heard about sibling rivalry. It's that drive found in many brothers and sister when one or more than one are always trying to one up another. It's manfested in all sorts of ways; from childhood sports to winning the affection of one or both parents, to adulthood with 'who has the better job, bigger house, nicer car, the better vacation, or makes the most money. But what do you call it when siblings get along?

With five kids we have our share of sibling rivalry. And with the age range that we have, we also have our share of arguing and fighting. I mean, no family, and NO CHILD, is perfect. But we also have the moments when everyone simply get's along. And what's nice is, these moments are beginning to become more and more frequent.

This summer has been a summer of little lessons and glimpes of maturity among our entire brood. For instance, watching our kids play together has been a great reminder of the importance of intentionally teaching kids the value of family and loving one another.

For example, last night we had a football booster meeting over at the high school stadium. It was outdoors, the our 2 youngest boy brought along a soccer ball and spend the majority of the time kicking the soccer ball around together. It was great to look over and see them playing together as opposed to fighting or arguing with each other. But this isn't a one time event. We have watched them play together all summer long. Whether it's Legos, Nerf, Airsoft, watching Clone Wars, or just rolling around on the floor wrestling, they are learning how to rely on each other.

We have always hoped that our kids would see each other as their best friend. While we love that they have friends outside of the family, we reinforce the idea that those friends will come and go, but your brothers and sister will always be your brothers and sister. And when life gets hard, as it often does, you will need each other.

I wish there was a way to simply freeze them in those "everyone's-getting-along" moments, but you can't. But when they come, I want to soak up the activity and bank those precious memories, because time is passing quickly. With our oldest already thinking about college (which happens in just 3 years), we are very much aware of just how fast they are growing up. So every minute counts.

Take a few minutes in the coming days to simply watch your children. What they do during those times of play may surprise you! So enjoy them while you have them!

- jay

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