Kids Say the Darnedest Things Sibling Love

Story by Hayley Harrison / Staff Writer

From the time my oldest daughter was three years old, she started telling her dad and me that she absolutely had to have a baby sister. There was no way around it; she needed a baby sister, and we better figure out how to get her one. Every time she brought it up, we would quickly crush her dream of sibling bliss by reiterating that she was indeed going to be our only child. Our perfect, angelic, precious only child. She was not at all thrilled to hear that, but she kept hope alive, and then lo and behold 2021 rolled around, and well, we accidentally gave her the sweet, 9-pound, 2-ounce baby sister that she always wanted – or thought she wanted anyways …!

The excitement of holding the “Big Sister” title started to fade the moment she walked into the hospital room and saw her momma holding a baby that wasn’t her – the betrayal! But the real kicker was when HER grandparents thought it was acceptable to take their attention off the brand-new dance that she had just choreographed in the hospital room in order to “ooh and ahh” over this dang new baby, who in her opinion, wasn’t even that cool. That was the moment she decided she would like to rescind her application for a sister and return this baby to sender – ASAP.

That feeling did not change for her when we got home from the hospital. She (and I am not lying) tried (and succeeded most of the time) to schedule her own after-school plans and weekends so that she didn’t have to be at home with “that baby.” There was an instance where she tried to trade her baby sister straight across for a new rug, and another time when she tried to talk the very sweet lady that keeps them for me while I work, into leaving her sister in the dog kennel so that she could go outside to play.

My husband and I were starting to wonder whether or not she would ever give her baby sister half a chance to bond with her. Then, one day we were out with friends who have a toddler close to the same age as ours, and we were all chatting and laughing, when all of a sudden, our youngest starts letting it out because the other toddler was pulling her hair. Before any of us even had a chance to react, my oldest daughter swooped in out of nowhere, put her baby sister on her hip and carried her to safety. She then continued to stay right by her side to make sure it didn’t happen again. My husband and I immediately locked eyes with expressions that said, “OMG, she does love her!” We were so proud of her that day! And hilarious anecdotes aside, she really is a fantastic big sister and we wouldn’t be able to make it without her!