Home, Sweet Home

When my brothers, sister, and I were little, we were a big responsibility for my parents. We were very active children, so my parents had to be alert at all times. We were not always well-behaved and frequently did things my mother disapproved of. We got dirty when playing outside and made a lot of noise when playing inside. On occasion, we got into arguments with the neighbors' children; I still remember putting dirty water on a neighbor's blond hair because we were arguing about something. I got into a lot of trouble for that.

Although our parents disapproved of many things that we did, they usually did not get very angry. They always tried to discuss the situation with us the first time and rarely screamed at us. I remember having long conversations about why we ought to behave in a certain way.

My brothers, sister, and I always laughed and joked with each other. I can still remember how we joked with our older brother when he first was able to grow a beard. He was very proud of his "beard", but we all laughed because it was nothing more than three or four blond hairs on his face. My mother always looked at us disapprovingly when we laughed so loudly, but my brother never got angry. He thought it was funny.

My sister, however, did get very angry on several occasions. We always let each other use our belongings, but we had to ask for permission before taking them. One time, I borrowed my sister's white dress without asking and got juice on it. When she found out, she screamed at me angrily, telling me that I was unreliable and infantile. I felt very sad, and my mother was unhappy because I broke our family's rule about borrowing belongings. It was a very emotional situation. My sister and I talked and talked, and finally I kissed her to show her that I was sorry.