by Kelly Wilbanks posted in Parenting

My 5-year-old has started asking me if we can give her sister to another family. I'm sure this is in the range of normal behavior...right" I remember thinking my life would be better without my little sister in it, too. A couple of years ago she was asking me if she could move to another family.
She's seen her best friend's family morph over the years with adoptions, fostering, and welcoming "bonus" children, so her concept of family is pretty fluid. I like that. But our family isn't that fluid and her littler sister is here to stay.

I get it. Right now Vivi sees Evie as competition for my time. And she's not wrong. If the little ones aren't napping their needs make themselves known, sometimes at full throttle. And Vivi's chorus of "look at me," "look at what I made," or "look at what I can do" gets drowned out. I feel so torn. Spending time with my cool little kid is fun for me too. I want to invest in the special relationship I have with Vivianne, but get frustrated when she doesn't acknowledge the time I do give to her. She's only 5, I get that, but a little validation for the efforts I'm making would help me feel like my energy isn't going into this vast empty space of want and need.
Some days aren't so frustrating. Some days we can get away or both babies stay napping and we can sneak in a kitchen picnic like the one Vivi prepared the other day. She set out the cups, I poured th...