Something you may not know about me is I am the youngest of two girls and my sister and I had a tumultuous and often bitter relationship that has finally, in the past ten years grown into one of compassion and support for each other.

I remember scathing remarks tossed back and forth, brutal criticism and many, many tears over the years. We each dished out our own version of mean; when you are a sister you know exactly how to wield the knife to make the deepest cut.

I honestly don’t know how my parents managed our fights and screaming, because I sure couldn’t handle it with my three kids. I feel very lucky that my kids get along, not seamlessly but they do genuinely care for each other in a way I don’t recall my sister and I doing.

I mean, I know she loved me, and I her, but we sure didn’t show it until we were well into our twenties. So I appreciate the tolerance my eldest shows when her younger siblings are being difficult. She has a patient grace I envy, and a calmness to her that relaxes the tension and makes it very difficult to remember why you were feeling angry or stressed. She manages to jolly everyone along, and rarely does she lose her cool, so we try to give her opportunities to get her way as she more often than not will concede to her brother or sister just to keep the peace.

As a tween/teen she has a range of interests that are above her brother’s and sister’s realm of understanding. This is particularly evident in her choice of entertainment, primarily the shows she loves to watch on Netflix. Her choices range from funny and quirky to borderline scary (for me!) and so when it’s her turn to choose I usually have to take the younger two out to do something. I won’t tell her she can’t watch shows that are completely age appropriate for her, but not for her siblings, but I really would love to have all three equally happy and entertained for a while to give me some peace and quiet to do the zillion things on my personal todo list.

This month Netflix has answered my call for a little me time, and created a new category aimed at siblings. Oh thank you!!! Now the kids have a whole range of shows and movies, geared especially for their various ages but guaranteed to keep them all engaged at the same time. The new playlists have cool names, such as A Tale of Two Distant Ages, Sugar and Spice and Meet in the Middle. There are dozens of shows, series, movies and documentaries sure to appeal to all three of my kids without one having to pout or cry to get their way. Blissful cooperation is coming our way! So before the novelty of having so many new choices wears off I’m going to make a cup of tea and attempt to clear my inbox.