TGIF... maybe

This week has been a blur, seems like it just flew by. I've been reading a book called " Making Children Mind without Losing Yours" by Dr. Kevin Leman. It has started to open my eyes to the reality of our family. Emily was gone for the first 3 days this week and her absence also brought a lot of perspective. She has a huge impact on this household, one we really weren't giving her credit for, unfortunately, it's a negative one. For months now I have been trying to "fix" Matthew's behavior. He's a willful child, who at the age of 6 (almost 7) was throwing temper tantrums that could easily rival that of a 2 year old. Everything seemed to be a struggle with him, but the three days that Emily was gone... he was an angel. He did his homework, chores and listened like an angel, he even lovingly helped his younger sister. The minute Em was home, he was back to old Matthew, fighting, yelling, getting defensive, distracted, hard to keep on task. So I decided to sit back and pay more attention to what was going on. Emily, and I hate to say this, is an instigator. She goads him on with little digs here and there. She tattles to try and make herself look better and then sits back and loves watching Matt get in trouble. I think now his acting out is not only to get attention, but at the sheer frustration that we as parents were not aware of what was happening to him. It's going to be a long road to try and correct the negative behaviors Emily and Matthew have picked up and an even longer road to get to where they are well behaved and loving siblings towards each other.