Peace and Harmony at the Park

Thursday I took the kids to a picnic in the park with the ladies from my hula class. (Okay, YES I’m taking hula! I live in Hawaii; I’ve watched “Lilo and Stitch;” there you go! Don’t give me a hard time about it, okay?)


One of the ladies is moving (that happens a lot when you’re in the military, in case you haven’t noticed) and everyone all wanted to get together and wish her farewell.

The thing is, I just started taking this class in May, and I was gone all of June, so I don’t really know these people very well. So it’s a little weird to go to a “we’ll miss you” party for someone you’ve just met. But the hula instructor called and invited me personally, so I went.

I had trouble finding a parking place, so we had to walk a little ways to get to the picnic table where my group had gathered. Right out of the car we had some whining over who had to carry the bags with our lunch in them, some complaining over helping to push the babies’ strollers, and some shoving over, well, I don’t know what exactly.

On the short walk I was already weary of the constant sniping between the three older girls: “Mommy, she’s TOUCHING me!” “She’s not carrying ANYthing and I’m stuck with this big bag!” “Make her stop LOOKING at me!” Et cetera.

As we approached the group one of the ladies (whom I did not know) was holding forth on the importance of sibling relationships. She said growing up as an only child she had really not had the opportunity to learn to get along with others as well as children with siblings. Therefore she was planning on adopting a second child so that her daughter could learn these crucial skills in the home.

“So a child with siblings really learns to get ALONG with others in the family, working out conflicts and becoming a more caring and loving individual,” she was saying earnestly, as her cute and unsuspecting toddler stood obediently beside her.

I moved slightly to try to block her view of my own brood of loving siblings, one of whom had an elbow lodged in her sister’s ribs, another of whom was crying, and the third of whom was currently actively involved in tattling. Oh, and Baby Girl was reaching from her stroller to yank a toy from Baby Boy’s hands as he sat placidly nearby in his stroller.

Oh yeah. THEY’RE learning to live in peace and harmony with others through their sibling relationships.

How embarrassing!

So I spent the whole picnic trying to keep my little monsters out of this poor lady’s view.

Let her keep her illusions for now.

She’ll learn soon enough.