Poles Apart

We are lucky enough to live in an area where all the houses face on to a communal green area. There are a lot of young families in the area and now that the summer is here, that green area is filled with children in the evenings. My boys are always curious to see what the other kids are up to. Well, maybe it's curiousity or maybe it's the fact that the road is strewn with scooters, bikes and go karts belonging to the older kids and the boys fancy a little bit of joy-riding. Either way, it's a relatively easy way for me to amuse them in the evenings.

I say relatively because typically, as soon as I open the door, the boys will toddle out and head off to see what they can take a spin on but never, ever will they head off in the same direction. This means that I spend the time trying to keep track of two small boys who are determined not to come within a hundred yards of each other. All I can do is prioritise and stay closer to the twin that is nearer the front of the estate and therefore more likely to be confronted by a car [thankfully there is no through traffic and most drivers are aware of all the children and have no appetite to run one over].

As I was gradually going cross eyed, I wondered why they rarely played together and the old phrase "opposites attract" came to mind. No, I am not thinking about match making for the boys yet but I am talking about the more scientific usage of the phrase. [As an aside, Monkey Boy took a shine to one of the girls out on the green tonight. He gave his best grin, waved and then waddled over as if to hug her. She took a couple of steps back but he was not deterred. He persisted in following her all the way across the green while she trotted off, looking nervously over her shoulder. Reminds me of my dating days!!]

Anyway, back to physics - from my vague memories of leaving cert, the phrase "opposites attract" normally applies to magnets. I see the twins as similar poles and therefore destined not to occupy the same space for very long. It is, at best, a questionable theory but could go some way to explaining why they fight so much.

These are the meandering thoughts that I have trying to explain the reasons for their fights. It's the best that I can come up with because there are often very few clues to work with. For example, earlier this evening I opened the back door to let them go out and play. Inexplicably they both stopped at the door and looked at each other. After a moment, Fat Chops took a couple of steps out into the garden. Monkey took exception to this, followed him out, shouted something unintelligible at him and slapped him squarely in the chest. Fat Chops replied with a primal scream and a flurry of lefts and rights that completely took the fight out of his brother. After a brief hesitation while I thought what a good post this brawl could make, I separated them and tried to simultaneously calm one and console the other.

I've opened an e-mail account and a facebook page so any comments, queries or feedback can be directed to;

fatchopsmonkeyboy@gmail.com

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/The-Adventures-of-Fat-Chops-and-Monkey-Boy/103930629654103?ref=sgm