My Sister, the Speechifier

I THOUGHT IT WAS ONLY PARENTS who felt (with guilt aplenty, of course) that they wished their children, sometimes, you know, just for a moment, time to collect one’s thoughts, or maybe just form a thought…could you all, please, just for a second, BE QUIET? Apparently, this is a sibling issue, too.

As I’ve written before, only child that I am, the whole sibling relationship is an elusive and beautiful thing for me, often every bit as mystifying as it is lovely to observe. But, as I’ve whinedopined here of late, the sibling relations have, once again, gotten a little, um, strained around here. This week, my sweet son explained a whole new reason why.

We were at lunch, all four of us, a rare treat, especially this year, when my husband’s been traveling way more than he’s been home. I was basking in the glow of togetherness, but the River, unbeknown to me, was already at a slow simmer, and threatening to boil over.

“Here she goes AGAIN.” (Emphasis distinctly his.) Sentence followed by a very sophisticated eye roll. Lovely. (This is a skill both children have recently mastered. To my unending horror, I fear it is a behavior both learned and hereditary.)

“Mom.” He clipped the end off, the way he does when, you know, I’m in trouble. “She’s giving a SPEECH.”

“Huh?” Thus the insightful response from yours truly.

“You know how she is, Mom. She has to give speeches. All the time. About everything. It’s embarrassing.” The cardinal sin of childhood: to embarrass another.

The lightbulb finally flickered on. The Rock, bless her, has had one of those explosive periods lately (an explosion of intellect more than temper, though we’ve had those, too) and her vocabulary, her reasoning, her logic all have increased like crazy. But, I realized, thanks to the River’s eye rolling complaining, she does have a tendency to think things through…out loud. And, yes, at length.

I was thinking all this through silently, when my son nudged me. “See? Do you see? She’s still doing it.” He was hissing now. The Rock continued, oblivious. She was mentally dissecting the various ways in which caring for a pony might enhance not just her life, but the lives of all of us in her family. It was something of a discourse. But her argument? Cogent. Persuasive. Unless you happened to be her older brother.

I strive to teach my kids tolerance; they know the concept of freedom of speech. But is it possible to extend these noble concepts to each other? I’m not so sure.

(Thanks to The Outsourcing Company for the image above.)

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