Presence
My wife and I are often moved to accuse our daughter of bullying us. Since minute one she has been big for her age, and this size is increasingly attributable to muscle rather than fat. Whilst we do our utmost to be consistent in calmly admonishing bad behaviour and celebrating good behaviour, inevitably our daughter still has an inclination to do things we would rather she did not. In these instances any attempt at gentle restraint usually ends in our daughter causing injury to the restrainer. For example, my effort to prevent her from diving off the edge of our bed this morning was successful, but only at the cost of a bitten leg for me. And don't get me started on the tugs of war over the TV remote.
How does all of this relate to her potential as a big sister? Well, I envisage that this physical and psychological relentlessness will help her to fulfill the protective older sibling role more traditionally taken on by a big brother. Our new addition will never have a big brother, so I am grateful for the prospect of our daughter transcending the stereotype in this manner, for there is no messing with her, and surely never will be. The very best protagonists in this role achieve results through their potential for action alone. In football, this quality is known amongst top defenders as presence.
Independent Responsibility
This morning, when my wife retrieved our daughter from her bedroom, she found the little lady stood in her cot, turning her bedroom light on and off, having somehow removed herself from her sleeping bag (which we use - as is practical as well as fashionable - in lieu of a duvet for her). She had also cleared her cot of all toys. In short, our daughter had got herself up. Admittedly we still had to brush her teeth, but I was much older than one year before I started doing that voluntarily.
I choose to see this behaviour as encouraging evidence of our daughter's responsible nature. As such I confidently look forward to the day when she relieves my wife and I of parental responsibilities, offering to change all of her brother or sister's nappies and clean up after their meals. This will be nice.
Entertainment
Crucial to a good relationship between our daughter and her sibling is the elder partner's capacity to attract the attention of the younger by being suitably entertaining. My wife and I have never been in any doubt as to the quality of her personality. She makes my wife laugh a lot more than I do, and I'm really funny. Just this week our daughter has added to her considerable repertoire by perfecting the piggy grunt style noise of which she herself was so fond in her early months. She has also already mastered the Amazing Tongue Circus which I fine-tuned, to the unanimous amazement of my friends and acquaintances, at about 17.
I am confident that she will be of interest and inspiration to her protege.
Conversation
The sentences our daughter utters, although apparently still nonsensical to our naive ears, are increasing daily in both frequency and the proportion and variety of consonants they contain. By the time she is a big sister I have no doubt that she will be a walking, talking Oxford English Dictionary, from which her sibling will learn, as common wisdom suggests that younger children do. Having another little person from whom they copy their early habits and activities gives them a head start in learning the best of these, or so goes the theory. Our younger one will be learning from the best.
Abrupt Ending
There are more, but I have to go to work. I can't wait until my children relieve me of that responsibility.
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