Smart and Gullible

Those may be the new nicknames for my kids. At the moment EE is "Smart" and LC is "Gullible", although at anytime roles may be reversed.

This morning LC and I were hanging out downstairs waiting for the rest of the house to wake up, since LC decided 7am on Saturday morning would be a great wake-up time. EE comes down about two hrs later and as soon as she gets downstairs she asks me to go upstairs and get her slippers. Um, no. You were just up there and if your precious little tootsies are cold, go get them yourself. It wasn't because I was busy reading blogs or IM'ing on the computer . . . really. We just prefer to teach self-sufficiency around here.

So after asking me a few times and getting the same reply, she goes to hit-up her little sister who is happily playing in Little People Land (you should see the set-up they have going at the moment--house, school, playground, barn, zoo, airport, and even an ark for that 100 year flood; but I digress). I hear EE slyly ask LC to go up and get her slippers, and LC happily obliges with an "Okay, I'll be right back, you stay here". I wasn't too happy with EE exploiting her poor inocent sister like that. Last night she did a similar thing, all while whispering lovingly into LC's ear and stroking her hair. What a manipulator!

But honestly, what do we do as parents? ;) We ask our children to help do deeds we may not want to do. The girls fight over who gets dh his slippers most evenings (maybe we should get a dog, aren't they supposed to do that?). I recruit both girls to help do things like unload the dishwasher, put clothes in the dryer, and put groceries away.

And I guess it is a God-given right as an older sibling to order your younger sister around. Just ask my younger sister, who got it from two of us. I can still make her do things for me like check out Old Navy for something I'm looking for or make my kids' birthday invitations. But hopefully now I reciprocate just as much as I demand; its called sisterly love. ;)