Sibling Rivalry: Sound, Reassuring Advice for Getting Along as a Family [Paperback]

Written in the warm and reassuring Bank Street style, this is an authoritative, ground-breaking guide entriely devoted to the dilemmas of sibling rivalry. Issues such as jealousy, sharing and fighting between siblings are discussed, and there are special sections on twins, step-siblings and single parents.Foreword
 
I have two memories of the time when my sister, five years younger than myself, joined our family. My first memory, in the hospital, is crowded with excited grown-ups filling and darkening a tiny hallway. There is barely enough room for me, although, at five years old, I reached no higher than anyone’s thigh. There is a door with a high window in it. Suddenly, a red, crumple-faced, dark-headed bundle appears in the window, held by an invisible someone. My voice rings out, excited, proud of the cleverness of my observation, “It looks like a monkey!” And the grown-ups shush me in shocked tones.
 
The other memory is more complex—and needs some history. When mother went to the hospital to give birth to my sister, I was left with my grandparents. During my stay with them, I fell and broke an ankle, which required a stay in the hospital (not the same one as my mother’s!) and the wearing of a full cast, thigh to toe.
 
In this second memory I am in the backseat of a car, with a blanket covering my cast, going to bring my mother and the baby home. My aunt and my grandmother solemnly instruct me not to tell my mother about the cast, because it would upset her. We arrive at the hospital, and my mother, baby in arms, bends into the car with joyful face to greet me. Defying all the family, I throw back the blanket. “Look, Ma!” My mother gasps and as she sags, she almost drops the baby.
 
The only trouble with these memories is that they couldn’t both have happened, my firsl“&