Siblings and their silliness

Last week, Prince William was offered a wig in Broadcaster NHK’S make-up department during his visit in Japan.  I loved his response to the offer: ‘if I put one of these on, my brother would never let me forget it.’  Here, you can see that special ‘ribbing’ which exists between siblings.

I have some lovely memories of eating my brother’s toffees and telling tales on him.  He remembers, I’m sure, the day he put shaving cream on my toothbrush or when he put plasters all over my face.  Now, if you were to do this to anyone outside of your family you’d be off the Facebook friends list in the belief that you obviously ‘turned weird’ since leaving school.

However, the pranks between siblings can go horribly wrong; it can go prison-cell wrong.  In Florida, a twenty one year old man was insulted by a penis-shaped birthday cake bought by his sister.  He decided to get his own back to prove that he wasn’t ‘a dick’ and shot his sister with a BB gun, thus proving (unfortunately) that he was ‘a dick’ all along.  The sister decided not to press charges but her brother spent a night in jail anyway.  Both her prank and his ‘prank’ had unexpected results.  However, the next day, I’m sure they made up.

Sisters steal straighteners and then leave them on the floor, whilst switched on, and even though the v-shaped hole is in the carpet in their bedroom they still insist that it isn’t their fault.  Or, sisters can fight and shout at ear-drum damaging decibels.  My twin daughters (who are two and a half) can argue over the smallest things like over who gets to lie on the big sofa or whether a pillow should be graciously received or not.  When one doesn’t immediately agree with the other then the row can crescendo to shrill shrieking that would make a hyena shudder.  It jangles my nerves to the point where I hear myself saying, ‘you can’t force someone to have a pillow if they don’t want to have a pillow!’

The special sibling relationship is something which fascinates me.  I look forward to seeing this relationship flourish between my twin daughters.  And, to get something straight, if I find a v-shaped hole in my carpet those straighteners will find themselves thrown out of the bedroom window, no matter whose fault it is.