This is funny, C.J. I had no siblings but as a potential mother (someday--but of course that ship has now sunk, haha) I used to wonder what it would be like to try to help sons and daughters navigate the rocky shoals of puberty. I think John Irving's Hotel New Hampshire showed sibling incest in the midst of a bohemian family's life. When I reflected on it, I knew it was not something I cared to dabble in as the worst case scenario was so unpalatable as to make the entire venture moot.
All I can go by is our family and with six children, we did love each other. If an outsider were to attack any one of us they had the entire clan to contend with. We, on the other hand, could pick on each other or all-out fight if the situation warranted it, with no repercussions whatsoever. Nothing in the world could make me think of any of them in an incestuous way. That's just wrong, wrong, wrong and that's over and above the ick and ewwww factor. ICK! EWWWW!
It's interesting--(most) kids seem to understand instinctively that the opposite sex sibling is not a romantic love object. It might have something to do with Darwin's theory of Natural Selection. I think it's probably an extremely rare case where siblings have to be explicitly told by mom and dad that it's a Big No-No. Maybe we have an ICK/Ewww gene that prevents it.
I agree that it would be rare where any of the children would even have to be told by parents that it's a No-No. The Ick/Ewww gene wins out, I tell ya. I had long hair and after the bubble gum in my hair episode, my brother is lucky to have a face.
This is funny, C.J. I had no siblings but as a potential mother (someday--but of course that ship has now sunk, haha) I used to wonder what it would be like to try to help sons and daughters navigate the rocky shoals of puberty. I think John Irving's Hotel New Hampshire showed sibling incest in the midst of a bohemian family's life. When I reflected on it, I knew it was not something I cared to dabble in as the worst case scenario was so unpalatable as to make the entire venture moot.
All I can go by is our family and with six children, we did love each other. If an outsider were to attack any one of us they had the entire clan to contend with. We, on the other hand, could pick on each other or all-out fight if the situation warranted it, with no repercussions whatsoever. Nothing in the world could make me think of any of them in an incestuous way. That's just wrong, wrong, wrong and that's over and above the ick and ewwww factor. ICK! EWWWW!
It's interesting--(most) kids seem to understand instinctively that the opposite sex sibling is not a romantic love object. It might have something to do with Darwin's theory of Natural Selection. I think it's probably an extremely rare case where siblings have to be explicitly told by mom and dad that it's a Big No-No. Maybe we have an ICK/Ewww gene that prevents it.
I agree that it would be rare where any of the children would even have to be told by parents that it's a No-No. The Ick/Ewww gene wins out, I tell ya. I had long hair and after the bubble gum in my hair episode, my brother is lucky to have a face.
That IS pretty bad. It seems a lot of siblings like to torment each other in their younger years.