Sibling Rivalry

At work today the family of our program director came in to say goodbye. They had been visiting her during spring break and were going back home. One of her cutest grandchildren who is about ten and has a older brother who is 16, asked what the office was for and what we did exactly. My co-worker responded that we provide housing for Women and Children when they don't have any other place to go because someone at their house is beating them up. He looked around at all the toys in the waiting room in amazement and really seemed to be pondering what this meant. After much internal dialogue that I saw spinning around in his head he excitedly said, "Do you have a place for kids who get beat up by their big brothers?, because I could use a place like that!" For the record this boy had no visible bruises and the family seemed very capable of protecting their child from really getting beat up. Also, having two boys that are continually getting physical in a "it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt" kind of way. So this made me laugh so hard. This ten year old deciphered the message told to him of what we do, by using his own background knowledge of his brother beating him up and deciding maybe he could be in need of our housing services. I loved it! I can see it now. We could rewrite our mission statement to include not only women and children coming out of domestic violence into our long term housing; but also children who have older siblings that cause normal sibling anguish in their lives. I think we would be inundated by applications from all over the world of children who want to get the hell out their house because their siblings drive them crazy. Having six siblings I would have been one of the applicants applying for my own private, quiet home with no annoying brothers and sisters ruining my stuff, blaming me for random things and most of all beating me up. I can only say to this little boy seeking refuge from a bigger brother, that hopefully in twenty years he will have an awesome relationship with his brother and wish that he could spend more time with him. I know that is how I feel about all three of my brothers.