Divide and Conquer

If two's company and three's a crowd, nowhere is this truer than with my children.  When two of them are together (it doesn't matter which two), there's very little arguing and fighting.  But add the third child and all hell breaks lose.

It is always two against one--whether it is boys against the girl, the youngest two against the oldest, the oldest two against the youngest--someone is left out, picked on, ignored, or tormented.  And it escalates in the summer when everyone is home, and when we are in close quarters on vacation in a hotel room or suite.  It turns what is supposed to be a relaxing vacation into a stressful experience.

So this summer, for the first time ever, the five of us are not vacationing together.

This week, Violet, Jack-Jack and I are in Orlando, FL.  Violet is a Harry Potter fan, so we are here at Universal Studios to check out the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and to drink some butter beer!  My husband and Dash are spending the week in the Poconos in PA where they've been go-karting and fishing, and plan to spend a day at the Eagles traning camp at Lehigh U.

Below: Violet and Jack-Jack entering Honeydukes in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for bagsful of candy, wizard-style!

While this divide-and-conquer approach to vacationing is proving to be a great success, I hope that it won't become the norm.  Maybe I can use the wand I picked up to cast a spell and turn my kids into perfect little Stepford children!