Vitamin L

In fairness to my little Jenna, I must post about Vitamin L. There was a story in The Friend magazine this month that was pointed out to me one morning by my oldest. It was on one of those particularly yucky mornings when Jenna was in full uglies and lashing out at Heather. Heather cannot take very much and gets deeply hurt by even a grunt aimed in her direction. She came to me and said, "Read the story in The Friend. I left it for you on the couch."

After the girls were at school, I read the story. It was about two sisters, the younger of the two who was often very mean to her older sister. The picture was of a little girl yelling at an older girl who was reaching for a bottle of Vitamin L. The look on her face is just the look I sometimes see on Heather's face when Jenna is "at it again". I love the dad looking around the corner to watch what his oldest will do. The story goes that as the older daughter complains, the dad explains how the younger sibling will eventually learn to be kinder, but that for now it's important to be a good example and do what Jesus would do. Dad suggests taking extra does of Vitamin L (love) to withstand the anger and remember Jesus in hopes that if the older sister sets the example the younger will follow. It's very hard, but the older sister does as instructed, and pretty soon the younger sister reaches out with love.

It's so hard to be the oldest. I totally know. Everyone expects you to "know better" and be the example. All that says to an older sibling when they're young is that the younger ones have carte blanche to get away with murder and you can't do anything back to them or you'll get in trouble. I decided this story was perfect for family night that night. So that's what we did. We read the story and talked about choosing to do what Jesus would do etc. I don't even remember specifically what we said during the lesson. I only remember what's happened since.

Jenna has been calmer and happier. She has smiled more and been more loving. She told us the next day that she'd taken 5 Vitamin L's that day and that's why she was so happy. It's been 9 days since that lesson, and we are living with a different girl. There are some little blips on the radar now and then (we can't, after all, expect perfection), but for the most part we don't have the day-to-day pummeling that we normally get.

Of course this happened just days after my battle armor post. But I'm glad that both of these posts will show in our journaling. The growth that we've seen in Jenna in just a week has been amazing. I think she saw herself in the little girl in the story and saw how hard it was for the older sister to deal. Whatever it was that made the difference, it is working.

We'll be keeping a hearty supply of Vitamin L in our family from now on.