My babies don’t understand the concept of sharing quite yet. In the beginning, my daughter was a tyrant – If her twin brother possessed something that she wanted — well.. hell hath no fury. Well, now my son has quite a few ounces on his twin, and he proves it to her every chance he gets. Now it’s gotten to a point where we have little Wrestlemania events in the middle of our living room. Me and the fiance get quite a kick out of it each time, and I often chuckle at the thought of seeing those tiny fists and plastic car keys flying. We’re such a dysfunctional family… but are we?

I was reading a site about dysfunctional families. According to these “brilliant” studies, a family is dysfunctional when there’s not enough function. Okay… makes sense. According to this particular site, families are also dysfunctional when there’s too much function and even more so when that said function is inconsistent. Excuse me for asking, but doesn’t all of this dysfunction make a family… functional?

Christopher Gardner who was famously portrayed in The Pursuit of Happiness was in and out of foster care his entire childhood. Jim Carrey lived in a camper van as a teenager and had to work eight hour shifts at a tire factory to help his family. And of course we can’t forget the ultimate “stinky childhood to awesomeness” story: Oprah – Raped at 9 and gave birth at 14. Her small talk show has turned into a billion dollar franchise.

Now do I need to go smash some toy cars and rip the heads of of some Barbies? Maybe not – I’m a firm believer though that balance is the key. Healthy families are by no means perfect; they regularly include a little yelling, a tad bit of bickering, some misunderstanding, and a ton of plastic key throwing – but not all of the time. In healthy families, expressing yourself emotionally is generally allowed and excepted.  Ultimately, my babies mini wrestling matches are helping them to gain confidence, learn that they can’t win every battle, and they actually do share when things are all said and done. Maybe we’re not so dysfunctional after all.

Kesha Chisholm
Graphic Artist/ Blogger

Website: WeGotKidz.com
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