Sibling Rivalry

One can only begin to break down the complicated bond between a brother and his sister, more so if the two were forced to grow up in a household with no other sibling to fall back on. The many years in which they spent bickering and making up intertwine themselves into an intricate ball of emotions that should best not be tampered with by the outside world. But how far should any sibling go when trying to correct a fault of another, how harsh should their language be when attempting to drive a point home, how brutal should their efforts seem to keep the other out of harm’s way?
My devout readers, this brings me to today’s posting- which has no doubt been a puzzle piece in my mind’s eye that I just cannot seem to place. When does sibling rivalry turn sour, and when it does, is it a bitterness one soon adapts to? I won’t lie; I myself don’t have the answer to any of that. The best I can do is roll it around and offer it back to you my audience and see what you make of any of this.
Now, we all know that the internet is a vast encyclopedia, full of different websites for this particular topic among others. I found that when tackling this topic most of them were more geared towards targeting parents with children at opposite ends, but what about the person experiencing it first hand? After endless hours of pouring over what different blogs and Parent Help Sites had to say about this, I landed on a short article written in Wikipedia which simply summed up- as well as helped me understand a little more- this whole business.

Knowing that sibling rivalry is basically a type of competition amongst brothers and sisters is only one side of the coin. As I have been told many times before, I like to find the cause of most of the things that occur in my life time. Well, Wiki put out some pretty interesting reasons for it ever occurring including birth order, different parental treatment, personality and the like. The bit, however that caught my eye, was where it was noted in black and white that the more intense sibling rivalry was more eminent between siblings of very close age, same gender or… get this… where one child was more intellectually gifted than the other.
Bingo! That just about did it for me and lifted my emotional state without dampening my spirits. I know I am one to be criticized of holding my esteem in the highest of regard, but this time how could I have possibly been wrong if a well known child psychologist came up with that?
Could the answer to all my stress these past couple of weeks be lying in the mere fact that intellectually I am stronger than my brother? Maybe this is his way of 'measuring up' to my might. Still, loosely throwing about harsh words like ‘slut’ and false accusations of me not being able to keep my ‘panties up’ should not arise in daily conversations should they? Should this younger sibling of mine be telling me how much to drink and smoke as though he himself does not waste himself silly every chance that he gets?
Despite his weird efforts to keep his sister ‘grounded’ I honestly think this kid needs to be taught a lesson, which no one else but me can give him. Sadly for him, he has no other sibling other than me and if he were to piss me off at this stage in our lives- I pity the remainder of his existence. Still, I must take my place as the older one and continue to guide this erroneous fool through the path called life with as much love and care as a bear would have for its cub. I just do not know how much longer I can tolerate this pompous nature, ill-mannered behavior, disrespect and all together explosive view of his own slightly chauvinistic ego that has all manifested itself in what used to be my very sweet brother.
If my own brother were an avid blog reader (or any other kind of basic reader for that matter) then I would be in slight fear of posting this particular piece up- fear of letting him in on what really goes on in my mind. Seeing as he probably has about three more good years before he develops the slightest love for reading blogs I think I’m pretty safe.
Now, back to the fun stuff!!