This adorable video of sibling love is just too pure for this world
A brother-sister duo greeting each other after school is melting everybody’s heart.
Verlonda and Tariq Jackson and their three children, 5, 3, and 1, look like the picture-perfect family.
But their Instagram account illustrates the honest ups-and-downs as a tribe-of-five.
But their Instagram account illustrates the honest ups-and-downs as a tribe-of-five.
Their new video featuring their 3-year-old daughter Ava greeting her 5-year-old brother Tariq, Jr. as he steps off the school bus is going viral for depicting the unconditional bond shared only by siblings.
In
it, Tariq Jr. hops off the bus after school in a parking lot where his
little sister is waiting, jumping up and down with excitement. The pair
race toward each other with huge smiles on their faces and Ava, wearing a
lavender sweat suit, jumps into her brother’s arms. He then plants a
kiss on his sis and the pair walk off arm-in-arm.
“They
fight over whose turn it is with the iPad, who has more time with the
iPad, and who is better at whatever game they are currently playing on
the iPad,” Verlonda captioned the post with nearly 22,000 views. “They
fight over who got the bigger piece of cake, more frosting, the better
plate. They call each other names and dole out insults like “you’re a
butt” and “no YOU’RE a butt.” Sometimes the fighting makes me want to
scream or cry, or both. I wonder what I’m doing wrong as a parent, and I
lament the fact that two of the people I love the most don’t seem to
like each other at times.
There are days when it seems like the vast
majority of their interactions are acrimonious, hostile, and
exasperating. But every afternoon at 4:04 pm when my son gets off the
school bus from kindergarten, this happens…….they greet each other with
hugs, kisses, and walk home arm and arm saying things like, “You’re my
favorite person.” “Thanks. You’re my favorite person, too.” As a parent
that’s the best, I can hope for. That my babies will fight and forgive.
That they will practice what it means to be a human with each other.
That they will learn when to stand their ground and when to let
something go. That they will learn to be siblings, maybe even
favorites.”
“Being
so close in age, my children fight a lot, so my husband and I try to
show them love through our marriage — we always hug, kiss, and speak to
each other respectfully,” Verlonda, 31, a student doctoral candidate of
developmental psychology, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Initially, the Jacksons
began sharing their lives on social media, in part to counter the
negative images of black families in the media. However, when people
expressed envy toward their family bond, she wanted to be transparent
about the realities of parenthood. “I didn’t want to be responsible for
creating that image,” she says.
“No one is perfect.”
“No one is perfect.”
For example, earlier this week, Verlonda shared a video of herself
prepping dinner while her children bickered in the background. She
wrote, “….A lot of life happens between 8:30am and 8:30pm and much of it
is not doused in perfection. Moments like these aren’t always my
favorite, but they’re definitely worth remembering (Like I would be able
to forget them anyway) so to answer the million-dollar question: My
children are not always well behaved, they’re children. I don’t have it
all together. I’m weathering the storm and managing blessings. Managing
the madness, the beautiful disaster that is motherhood.”
She also documented a scuffle between her children over a pre-bedtime
snack of Cheez-Its. The showdown involved Ava grabbing a handful of
crackers her brother had carefully rationed for himself, causing him to
fall to the floor in defeat — a scene that Verlonda amplified with a
dramatic soundbite. Baby Judah then swoops in to knock the entire box to
the floor.
“We
always give the kids ten minutes to eat a snack before bed,” Verlonda
tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “On that night, they used their ten minutes to
fight and cry. We always let the kids hash it out themselves as a
teachable moment. The lesson they learned that night was to share.”
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