Protective Rivalry

Alyssa is a typical big sister. She can get outrageously annoyed by Olivia simply sitting her car seat humming, looking out her own window but in the next breath, she can be telling Olivia how much she loves her.

Olivia, too, is pretty typical when it comes to her little sister duties.

She takes her duty as a hero worshipper pretty seriously. For the first four and three quarters years of her life, Olivia has been content to let Alyssa call the shots.

And Alyssa’s been perfectly happy with that.

Imagine the level of annoyance Alyssa lives with these days as Olivia realizes that she has opinions and she has ways of sharing those opinions. And, worse yet, sometimes Olivia’s opinions differ from Alyssa’s.

Most importantly, Olivia doesn’t always agree with what Alyssa wants to watch on television. Ohh, the drama that ensues.

Alyssa can be bossy. See, in her own mind, she’s ruled our household since the day she was born. And yes, Tom and I are pretty indulgent. So now that she’s having to share tv time and egads, even some of her toys, she’s not enjoying it at all.

And yet, in the midst of all this, Olivia is fiercely protective of her big sister.

Some evenings at my mom’s when I’m trying to wrangle the girls and their stuff into a manageable pile so we can go home, I’ll get Olivia into her coat and hat and boots, with her backpack over my shoulder before Alyssa even has her shoes on. At that point, I’ll take O’s hand and say, “Let’s go, Livie. Lyssie can walk home.”

And then we’ll head out the door.

Alyssa doesn’t give a fig for what I’m saying. She knows darned well that I won’t leave without her.

Olivia, on the other hand, is very concerned that I might be serious. She drags her feet as I pull her out the door, calling out the entire time, “No, we’re not going to leave without Lyssie.”

And because I’m mean, I’ll tell her, “Yes, if we can get out there fast enough, we are going to leave without Lyssie.”

Then I try to move even faster toward the car. By this point, Alyssa has joined us outside, but she has to go the long way off my mom’s deck, because she’s evil. And so she continues to dawdle as I continue to tease Olivia.

By the time I get O into her car seat, A has joined us at the car, but she’s still in no hurry to actually get in the car. So I pretend to hurry, hoping we can still leave without her.

All this time, O is insisting that we aren’t leaving without her sister.

I’ve told Olivia on several occasions that I’d never really leave Lyssie. But she still gets so concerned and protective.

I hope she realizes, deep down, that it’s a game and that she’s just playing her part.

But I do sort of love the protectiveness that rises to the surface when Olivia feels like it’s them against me. I’m absolutely okay with them having a united front when faced with mean parents. That’s sort of the whole point of siblings, isn’t it?