It Takes a Village - Cup Of Tea And a Blog

It Takes A Village... to raise a child. So, I'm asking bloggers from my village to each write a message for me to pass on to my girls. If you'd like to write one, let me know.

This week's message to my girls is from a new friend of mine who writes over at the gorgeous blog Cup Of Tea And A Blog - the kind-hearted Catherine Rodie Blagg.

Dear Little Words,

Today’s lesson is about sisterhood. Not 'The Sisterhood’. I’m not here to teach you about feminism - I could - but not today.

The ‘sisterhood’ I want to talk about is the one that the three of you share. The connection that ties you to one another, the bonds of shared experience, shared memories and…er… shared bathwater.

Whether you are like three peas in a pod or chalk, cheese and marble - you can be the best of friends. You can learn from each other, you can confide in one another and although your mum won’t thank me for saying so, you can conspire together. What you can’t do on your own, you can do as a team.

No one will make you laugh the way your sisters make you laugh. They will make you laugh so hard you’ll forget why you started laughing in the first place. You’ll laugh that crazy silent laugh that leaves you breathless. You’ll laugh so hard that you’ll be in serious danger of wetting your knickers*. As you grow up you’ll share so much laughter that when the three of you meet as grown women you’ll merely need to make eye contact and you will be floored with laughter.

Unless you happen to be meeting at a funeral, in which case I would advise you to try and avoid eye contact.

Now, before we get too carried away with all this jolly “sisters are best friends” malarkey I should also tell you that you will never fight with anyone the way you fight with your sisters. You’ll fight over toys, you’ll fight over dolls, you’ll fight over chocolate biscuits. As you grow, you’ll fight about jewellery and clothes and make up. And, well, inevitably there will come a time that you’ll fight about boys.

I’m going to resist temptation to digress into a tirade of advice regarding the hairier sex. Your Auntie Mrs Woog has already provided you with a thorough run down on boys and I’ve nothing to add.

Except to say that when they threaten to disturb the bonds of sisterhood… they’re really, really, not worth it. Boys will come and go, but what the three of you have… that’s forever. Unless of course that boy really, really is worth it, in which case you’ll figure it out. A sister can get over anything for a sister, even a broken heart… Clear?... No?... Don’t worry, you’ll know when you get there.

I wanted to end this letter with a touching quote that you would remember for years to come. I scoured the internet for hours and found reams of ‘sisterhood’ quotes. Most of them were of the slightly nauseating ‘sisters are petals of the same flower’ variety, but then, just as I was about to give in and go with lyrics from Sister Sledge, I found this little gem:

 

"A sister will always notice her sister's first gray hairs with glee" Allison M. Lee

 And that sums it up! Yeah, your sister will be the first to point out your grey hairs, but she’ll also use her fancy tweezers to pull them out for you!

 Look after each other,

 Much love,

 Catherine

* Here is an extra piece of advice… don’t forget to do your pelvic floor exercises! 

Catherine Rodie Blagg lives in Sydney with her husband and two small daughters. In her free time she blogs about family life and the challenges of modern mothering. She drinks an alarming amount of tea. www.cupofteandablog.com 

Twitter: @CoTaaB 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cupofteaandablog