Christy Turlington Burns: Sibling Rivalry Is ‘Frustrating’

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Things are heating up in Christy Turlington Burns‘ household.

Having been raised in a family of three girls, the model was hopeful the boy/girl dynamic of her children with Ed Burns — daughter Grace, 7½, and son Finn, 5 — would keep the sibling squabbles to a minimum; However, Turlington Burns is the first to admit she couldn’t have been more mistaken.

“It’s constant. Just walking by him — she just can’t help it and he adores her,” she told PEOPLE at the Divalysscious Moms & Moms & The City Mother’s Day Luncheon.

“He thinks that she is everything so it’s a little frustrating, but I also know that it’s part of being a kid and everyone goes through that.”

And although the “fighting and crying” is “hard” on the mother-of-two, she admits, “For the most part they love each other, but they’re just kids.”

Fortunately, her work with Every Mother Counts leaves Turlington Burns, 42, feeling “energized” and ready to tackle the balance of her everyday struggles. “I think it trickles down to all the other aspects of my life,” she says.

“When you feel like you have conviction and you’re doing something that matters and you’re making a contribution, my kids feel the benefits of my satisfaction in that work and so my family is in good shape and then I feel like from there, yourself, your family and then on.”

– Anya Leon with reporting by Liz McNeil

Comments

I can totally relate!!! My two girls are 6 1/2 and 5 years old…when they play together nicely, it’s fantastic…when they don’t…it’s horrible!!!!! By the end of some days, I seriously want to put ear plugs in my ears

- Momof3girls on May 15th, 2011

I was the same way with my younger brother. I loved him to DEATH and he was always so bothered by me. Lol! I STILL love him to death but it’s a little more tamed!

- Crystal on May 15th, 2011

I can TOTALLY relate!! My 5 year old son and 4 year old daughter are in a total love/hate relationship!!

Sometimes all they have to do is LOOK at each other and its on, LOL!!!

- CrazyTrain on May 15th, 2011

My sibling and I still aren’t good friends although we can tolerate each other now as we are adults. We now get together so that our children can play.

There is no guarantee that siblings will ever be friends or even get along so I always tell people to not have another child for the sole purpose of giving one a sibling.

- Nancy on May 15th, 2011

My younger brother and I are just shy of 4 years apart in age and we were the same way all the way into our teens. The good news is that there’s an excellent chance it will get better. Now that we are all grown up (33 and 29) my brother is my best friend and I love spending time with him.

- MissMel on May 15th, 2011

Haha. My younger brother and I were the same way. It’s actually one of my biggest regrets now because that innocent little boy that used to want to tag along after me everywhere and couldn’t understand why I would want to be with my friends and not have him along when I was HIS, and not theirs, is long gone now and I will never get all those chances back where I could have said “yes”.

- LisaS on May 15th, 2011

My younger brother and I used to fight constantly growing up, and now that we are older he thinks that he can tell me what to do, and how to do it as if he is my father. Which is why I try to have as little to do with him as much as possibly can because of the fact that he treats this way. My Grandmother doesn’t like it either, and has told him numerous times not to do it, but he won’t stop. Even at our only Grandmother’s request he won’t do it.

To me, I already have one father…I really don’t need another.

- Jennifer Chew on May 15th, 2011

ARGH! This is all too familiar in my household. But I can say it gets better as they age!

We have four 18, 16, 10 and 6. And the 18 and 16 yr olds could really get into it. The 18 yr old is a girl and she is super social. The 16 yr old, when he was younger would sit back and watch his older sister command a room. A room to which she could walk into, not knowing a soul and make best friends. He was more “anti social” like his daddy. Lol but boy even though they are polar opposites they could battle, or bicker like the Bickersons.

While growing up, I cherished summers as the bickering would not happen as often. We own a cottage on a lake and move up there in the summers. The four children have to share a room. And to this day I have never heard from them that they wished they had their own room. At night time the oldest will sit up talking till wee hours in the morning. I live for that moments to listen to them laugh and talk. I will admit though I have been tempted to go in there and tell them to be quite but in the end I don’t only because I want them to remember those times. Those moments almost make all that bickering during school almost worth it. So in the end I know they really do love each other, it’s just during school it becomes a love hate relationship.

- mary on May 16th, 2011

Oh my wait until they are preteens. They will take you down lol! Love kids I just wish there was a happy median. It is either Zen or World War 3. I will say my brother use to literally scare the pee out of me for no reason. Now we get along great!!

- Mel on May 16th, 2011

So glad I have an only child!

Christy is so lovely. I always thought she was the prettiest of the “supermodel” group.

- Lila on May 16th, 2011

It’s the same for my children (13 yr. old son and 10 yr. old daughter). My son torments his little sister to no end, but she tolerates it and loves him anyway. They bicker a lot, but they love each other a lot. It’s harder on me now than it was when they were younger because they’re so vocal and my son is taller than me! As Mel pointed out so eloquently–”they will take you down lol!”

- Sarah S. on May 16th, 2011

It sounds like my house minus the admiration from the younger sibling. I have four daughters and it’s very difficult to find a chunk of time in the day when there’s no hitting, biting, shoving, yelling, etc.

- Cecelia on May 16th, 2011

Sounds like my brother and I. He’s two and a half years older than me, and when we were little I worshipped him and followed him around everywhere (much to his annoyance.) We fought a lot as adolescents but now that we’re both adults we get along fine. I’m even godmother to two of his kids.

- Jeanne on May 17th, 2011