Sibling Rivalry

Sibling rivalry exists as a sad fact of life.

Every progenitor at one time or other

is forced to explain to a contumelious child

equal love for him or her, and a sister or brother.

As a mother, egalitarianism for each offspring

I was constantly forced to explain,

how I loved neither the greater, but they paid me no mind.

Each of my boys would persistently complain.

It’s sometimes too much for a parent to handle.

And it wears thin with us all I am sure -

that constant need for a child and its sibling

to win on the one-upmanship score.

But even when she was fed up with the fights,

my sister could hardly contain her mirth,

when accused by her four year old daughter one day,

“If you really loved me better you’d’ve had me first.”