Today I am re-posting one of my fav posts from 2012 because, well, it’s still very relevant chez WM. With that, I bring you, life with an older sibling, from the perspective of the little one, see if it rings true in your house too:
“Mommy!! Mommy!! LOOK LOOOK LOOOOOOOOK!!!!” shouts my 3.5 year old. “IT IS BATMAN!!!!!! BATMAN!! I can’t wait to see it!” she exclaims, jumping out of her skin, dancing in front of the new Batman movie poster earlier this summer.
Before I had a chance to even answer, her older sister helpfully responds with this: “You are too little to see that movie. And when you are big enough to see that movie, it won’t be in the theater anymore. So you will never get to see it.”
A 6-year-old will catch your dreams and then crush them.
Ahh…welcome DREAM CRUSHER…glad for you to join our family.
I’ve noticed this pattern of behavior repeatedly through the year since she was months shy of her sixth birthday.
A more benign example than the soul crushing, reality biting, mean-spirited dead pan response to her little sister’s naive enthusiasm for a violent and age-inappropriate movie, would be taking them to any kind of show or production. Classic example being Disney on Ice.
Cue to the three-year-old exclaiming “Look! I see Mickey Mouse! I see the Lion King!! Mommy, do you see them!”
“They aren’t real, they are just pretend, you know that, right,” helpfully points out the Dream Crusher.
My favorite is when the younger one fights back in a defiant toddler voice, accurately emphasizing the right words “They ARE real. I see them RIGHT THERE!”
Most recently, last week we enjoyed a week of vacation in the Outer Banks. Our favorite day was a trip to Ocracoke Island, a 40 minute ferry ride from the tip of Hatteras Island. While exploring the beautiful island, we learned it is where the infamous pirate Blackbeard was killed in the 1800s. My little one dedicated an entire year of her life to being a pirate, or rather, 33% of her entire lifespan included dressing in pirate gear. That is hardcore. The only thing I am certain I’ve dedicated 33% of my life too, well frankly more, is eating and sleeping.
She moved out of the phase slowly this spring, in exchange for a love of superheros. But learning we were near the site of where Blackbeard roamed only reignited her passion for pirates and she was soon on the hunt for his ghost. And demanding her pirate gear and telescope.
#YouNeverBringTheRightStuffOnVacation
Enter Dream Crusher.
“You aren’t going to find his ghost. You aren’t going to find anything about Blackbeard. You know why? Because when he was killed, they used his head as a punch bowl. I learned that in summer camp.”
#ThanksSummerCamp
Apparently even on vacation, the dream crusher never rests.
Tell me you have a dream crusher living in your home, sharing the same roof with a little believer? Some days I love it because being #2 in the line up of 4 sisters, I have a profound respect for the role of the older sibling in keeping the younger sibling in place. It is an age-old necessity that shapes character. But sometimes, sometimes, it would be nice for the dream crusher to go on sabbatical.
“Like” the Wired Momma Facebook page so I can crush your dreams.
Oh, this made me laugh. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said to one of the older kids, “YOU were allowed to be 3 years old. Can you kindly extend that same courtesy to your little sister?”
Not that they listen, of course…
The very unhelpful side of me sometimes tells the older one things like “On the contrary, some people say that ghosts are much more likely to be around when the person dies violently. So, Blackbeard is probably here. He might be RIGHT BEHIND YOU!” But then it would backfire because my older one would probably have nightmares because she was really trying to emotionally shield herself from being scared of ghosts. #Mommycannotwin
That joking out of the way, I was the little one and my 5 yr older sister made darn sure I never believed in Santa Claus. She (and then we) thought it was really creepy that parents encouraged us to sit in a strange man’s lap while telling us not to talk to strangers at all other times. Looking back…she had a point!
Okay this post was hysterical. I am starting to see the early beginnings of a Dream Crusher in my 4 yo DS!
Thanks for all the comments, ladies. So glad to know I’m not the only one raising a cold-hearted dream crusher!!!
Thankfully, there are no dream crushers in this house, but rather just dreamers. We don’t need them in the home, though, as is especially obvious during the Holidays, when inevitably another Dream Crusher will inform your children that Santa does not exist-or something. There’s no avoiding them and really, isn’t it better to come from a big sister than a mean spirited kid in their class?? (BTW on another note, what do such things as DS mean?!)
[…] this kid loves to brag and prove others wrong! He is what my friend Wired Momma would call a dream crusher.) I want him to work hard (but not too hard,) love learning, and make friends. I want him to go […]