I have no siblings, but my favorite sibling story comes from friends of mine that are 3 sisters. They are each 2 years apart. They all used to take baths together when they were little. When bath time was over, the 2 older sisters used to jump out of the tub, pull the plug, and tell their youngest sister she was going to get sucked down the drain!

Oh, that is terrible! One of the msot important thing I can do as a parent is make sure my children have a loving, supportive relationship with each other. It appalls me when I see parents ignore bullying and abusive behavior between siblings and brush it aside as "I/my siblings always did that, too..."

My father and his sister have always had a great relationship, which has been very important as my aunt's health has declined. She is single and never had children, so we are her family and support system. My mother and her sister never got along -- lots of bullying and abuse -- and it has ended up being a big problem in terms of caring for their parents as their health declined.

Cartoons and tv shows often portray dysfunctional sibling behavior as the norm. Thus it is very important to explicitly tell children that the parents expect the children to love each other, care for one another, support each other, etc.

Please do not accept this behavior or think that abusive behavior is "natural" or that they will "grow out of it." They will take their cues from you! :-)

Actually, in our case, I thought my story was a bit amusing because of how much our kids really adore each other, and how nice Leah usually is to her brother. She's clearly gotten the message from somewhere else, though, that older siblings gently teasing the younger ones is part of growing up...KS

He's "anxious" so she says something designed to make him "horrified". This is NOT gentle teasing. And it only is "part of growing up" if the parents allow this kind of abusive incident to be indulgently downplayed as "gentle teasing." It's great that she is "usually" nice to her brother. Which behavior are you going to encourage?

I don't see this story as amusing at all. I see it as your daughter deliberately being mean to her brother to increase his anxiety before going in to have a scratch on his eye examined. Not nice, and not acceptable, no matter how you try to excuse her behavior.

I found the story quite amusing as long as they seem to generally get along. I remember fighting with my brother a lot growing up. Now as adults we are quite close even though as a child I could never have imagined it.

It's a cute story, Kate. It's good that you and your kids have a sense of humor.

Abusive? Seriously? My mom used to tell us she was giving us material to fill the time with our future therapists.

Well, as the mother of a son who used to pass out whenever science class mentioned eyeballs, I guess I take this one a little more seriously!