Advice For My Kids

Avery & Kayla: If you ask me now at my ripe old age of 31, I will tell you that having two brothers growing up was really awesome and that I can't imagine my life without them. But living the younger years can be a bit trickier when you are this close in age. So here is some advice from your mother about how to get along better while growing up with your siblings.

1) Like the early nineties song by Queen Latifah claims (you will probably hear this song on the "Oldies" channel one day in the future when I drive you to soccer practice), "U-N-I-T-Y, that’s a unity". May you unify and become allies, whether it's on the playground at school, on the bus ride home, or when getting yelled at by your parents (I am sure I will regret saying this). Be there for each other.

2) Share. Your dad and I aren't made of money and may not be able to buy two of everything in the future. Avery, if you share your Gameboy with Kayla, I am sure she will let you listen to her Sony Walkman in return.

3) If and when you get another sibling in the future and you find yourselves scrunched in the backseat of a small car during a long road trip, please let your little brother or sister fall asleep on your shoulders when he is stuck in the middle seat. Window seats are a privilege. (Sorry Jon!)

4) Play together. Barbie can play with He-Man; it is socially acceptable in the Toy World. May you guys be so excited to continue playing together, that you wake up at 6am on a Sunday morning just to keep evolving the imaginary world you created. But please do it quietly, so your father and I can sleep in for a change.

5) Do not date each other's friends. I still have not heard from Elise Bowers in over 10 years.

6) Instead of ratting one another out when you sneak M&M's from Grandma's secret stash in the cupboard, you should just split the pilfered candy with each other.

7) If you move out of town, state, or country for college, make sure you visit each other often. And in spite of what Uncle David tells you, it is not necessary to run into the other one’s house and yell “SHOTS!” (of milk) before you say hello.

8) Play sports together. There is nothing like having a live-in soccer or pitching coach under the same roof. Just be sure to take turns when fetching the baseball out of the scary neighbor’s overgrown pricker bushes.

9) If you guys insist on beating the crap out of one another, I will have to call a babysitter to watch you when we go out. That's pretty embarrassing when you are thirteen years old.

10) Be each other's biggest fans. Whether it's rooting your sister on at her soccer games or going to your brother's science fairs, be proud of each of your accomplishments, no matter how different they are from each other.