I didn’t think anything about this until my oldest asked me one day, “Why does everyone always talk about my sister?” There was this tiny tone of jealousy in her voice too when she asked.  My husband and I explained to her that when she was a baby it was the exact same way.  We even told her about the time we were in Palm Springs and a man ran out of a restaurant just to tell us how cute she was.

Well ever since she brought this up about her baby sister, I started to notice it a lot more. As people would gush about the baby, my oldest daughter would stand there without barely a glance from most people.  That’s when my heart started to break for her.  Once in a while a person would say something directed towards her like “Oh and you are so pretty too,”  and she would politely say thanks.  Now there was this one time in an elevator when an older man commented on how pretty my girls were and the wife said to him, “Well that’s because they have a pretty Momma.”   That lady was my favorite ever…a liar but still my favorite!

Anyhow, we needed a way to avoid bad feelings between our kids, so we taught our oldest daughter a very valuable phrase.  So now when a waitress or a store clerk begins oohing and ahhing over the baby my oldest daughter chimes in with a, “WHAT AM I? CHOPPED LIVER!”  This will usually get her a laugh and because she is just like her father she is always looking for a good laugh.  We even got her a shirt that says it too!

I know this is just the beginning of sibling jealousy and rivalries, but I just hope we can always fix it with a funny t-shirt.

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The post Sibling Rivalry: Chopped Liver? Written by Elissa R. Lerma appeared first on Michelle Rivera Lifestyle.