Leader of the Pack

Sometimes it's a tricky thing having three oldest children living under one roof. Over the last nine years Bryan and I have learned to trade off being in charge, for the most part. But the struggle between Bryan and Peter...

I'm sure that Peter and I hassle over who is in charge. He does like to dictate how things will run, and I, well I don't take direction from my four-year-old with much grace. I often say the words, "You may not speak to me like that." But who am I kidding, I say that to Cooper too and he's not quite the Type A that the rest of us are.

Bryan and Peter, their conflict takes things to a whole new level. I sometimes feel like I'm watching two male lions fighting for supremacy of the herd. It's not violent, don't worry, but they both have iron wills so neither of them backs down very easily. Usually it involves Bryan asking Peter to do something (put away his toys, eat his dinner, find his shoes) and Peter wandering around doing everything except what he's been asked to do. Peter's common defense is, "Oh, I forgot." Bryan and I rarely buy it because Peter has a steel-trap memory and can recall ridiculously specific details that happened a year ago. Consequences are then doled out and Peter often throws a tantrum and yells that he won't have whatever is being handed down, timeout, loss of toys, etc. That reaction leads to more consequences and it goes on from there until one of them calms down or gives in.

I wonder what life will be like when Peter is a teenager and the same size (or taller) than Bryan. I remember my brother trying to wrestle my dad when he was annoyed with him and my dad always winning. Will Bryan and Peter battle over computer games?