Older sibling perspective - 01/26/14 04:42 AM
DD11 was doing training for a girl scout cadette thing last week that will allow her to be a camp counselor assistant and part of the training was looking at characteristics of younger girls. I think the most profound thing she came away with was a new perspective on her younger sister (DD6). She tends to think of DD6 as a pain and a "little kid", but has little experience with other 5/6 year olds, so doesn't see the differences between her sister and other kids her age. After this training though she came away with the perspective that her sister, who is a daisy, has many more characteristics of a brownie or junior than she does of a daisy(Daisys are kindergarten and grade 1, brownies are grades 2 and 3 and juniors are grades 4 and 5). It was pretty shocking for her to find that most 5/6 year olds can't do what her sister can do or act like her sister can or even would react the way described in her training. What I thought was so cool was that she was seeing differences that DH and I have seen in both daughters, but it was her first experience as the outsider looking at her sister to see how very different she really is, and in turn, how different she must have been from others her age when she was young. She asked if it was as obvious to us as it had become to her about their differences. When I said yes, she thought about it for a while and said something along the lines of "ok, now I understand why I had such difficulty in elementary school."
I was wondering if others have had their children go through a similar experience and if it changed their perspective on their younger sibling?
I was wondering if others have had their children go through a similar experience and if it changed their perspective on their younger sibling?