Episode Eight: Looking Through Photo Albums

Over a year ago we had our third child, a girl. With that arrival we also had a new addition to our house: The middle child.

For this idea you will need old photos of your children and a captive audience.

Being a middle child looks like a tough gig. I am the youngest of three so couldn't tell you what it's like. From what I see of my middle boy and thinking of my sister when we were growing up, it doesn't look like an enviable position. In our house there are two parents and if each parent is looking after one child, whoever is left over out of the three either roams free or gets left out.

One thing that constantly pops up with our family is that the eldest boy is allowed to do a lot of things that the middle boy wishes he could do (go and stay with friends, stay up later some times). Also my baby girl gets away with a lot more than the middle boy could too. I constantly find myself either saying, "One day you'll be old enough to..." or, "When you were a baby you used to always...".

One evening I had a thought: Instead of repeating those same old lines to him I would show him. So, we looked through our old photo albums - particularly the one filled with photos of him as a baby. It was great. Not only did I get to show him that, yes, he was once a baby who got away with not tidying up after himself or making fart noises at the table but I also got to show him that his older brother was about the same age that he is now. That way he could really see that he would in fact grow up to be big like his brother one day.

It probably seems like such a simple idea but I didn't realise how much a bit of nostalgia and reminicsing could help out our inter-sibling relations. We had a great time going through each of the photos, talking about how cute everyone was and how Dad had more hair back then. Or pointing out old toys that are now gone or looking at our old house and remembering what we miss about it.

It was also a really good chance for the kids and I to just lay on the floor and take some time out. A nice quiet activity that all of us got involved with. It was the perfect way to reinforce that concept to the middle boy that life is tough, but hopefully it won't always be.

Have fun!