Sibling rivalry reaches a peak (From Gazette & Herald)

Sibling rivalry reaches a peak

9:30am Thursday 26th March 2009

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THERE’S always been something of a competitive air between my sisters and myself.

But as our common ground diverged and we were no longer competing for the same things, this competitive air has had to move out of the sports field, classroom and playground and find a new venue. In fact, the only crossover in our lives now seems to be the fact that we share the same family – but this, of course, hasn’t put paid to the competitiveness.

On the contrary, the slim spectrum of rivalry that this affords has only intensified the competition between us, as essentially we now find ourselves fighting over our parents’ love. And nothing brings out this streak more than Mother’s Day, a day designed to make you feel extremely guilty or extremely smug, depending on which camp of child you fall into.

As these days we’re all scattered throughout various UK cities on Mother’s Day, we usually compete through who can send the bulkiest parcel and spend most on sticking little plastic bows onto their wrapping paper. I always lose in a catastrophic manner, and usually because I forget that this is a competitive sport in the first place. Then I’m speaking on the phone to my mum and she’s telling me all about the huge box that’s come from my little sister in Birmingham and I suddenly remember the significance of tomorrow, but by that time I’ve missed the last post and the best I can do is cut out a picture of my head and stick it in the middle of a folded over piece of A4 with a scary ‘I love you!’ speech bubble popping out.

But this year, I’m home for the Easter holidays and thought I’d excel myself by making an actual appearance on the day – after all, a heartfelt hug would surely do a better job than any number of Mamma Mia DVDs could ever do. How wrong I was! At this moment my mother is lamenting the fact that not one of her children gave her this, the must-have gift of the Mother’s Day selling frenzy. Apparently all she wanted this weekend was to listen to Piers Brosnan squeal his way to infamy and to watch Meryl Streep bounding around in dungarees. In comparison to Super Trooper, my offering of a recipe book of ‘Super Soups’ (‘Soups to heal your mind, body and soul’) seemed a bit of an anti-climax.

But really, despite the occasional soulful bouts of ‘The Winner Takes It All’, I think all mothers this week are feeling pretty lucky to be around for their children at all this Mother’s Day. Certainly Jade Goody and Natasha Richardson have thrown into stark relief the possibility that not all can be. And I guess that puts the Mamma Mia argument into some perspective.

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