Schadenfreude

There's quite a bit of that around here.

How do I know? I mean, how do I even know what that word means? lol

I heard about it in a sermon recently. Tom Kahler's been studying the brain and it makes for really good sermon material.

You ever wonder why when one of your children is being really, really naughty the other one is sure to be really really good?

Schadenfreude. That's why.

I was amazed to see that Wikipedia pointed to a verse in Proverbs in connection with that word.
"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him." Proverbs 24:17–18

Schadenfreude is malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune.

For Missy seeing her twin in time out brings her great satisfaction. It makes her feel good because she looks better than he does when he's in time-out and she's being sweet. The poor kid does struggle with her emotions and she gets herself into a lot of hot water that her brother often avoids and it creates in her a strong feeling of envy and jealousy.

The brain is actually stimulated, and the hormone oxytocin  is involved...

Copying from Wikipedia; Brain-scanning studies show that schadenfreude is correlated with envy. Strong feelings of envy activated physical pain nodes in the brain's dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; the brain's reward centers, such as the ventral striatum, were activated by news that the people envied had suffered misfortune. 


Wikipedia also mentions that people who have a poor self-image are more likely feel schadenfreude than someone who is secure.


Ah, so that explains a lot around here! 

Now what?

Sorry, got to run. Look for part 2 later.

P.S. I can say my kids experience this, BUT it isn't always the case AND sometimes it is quite possible that it SEEMS like it more than it is an actual fact. Sometimes both children are doing well at the same time, and sometimes they both struggle at the same time, and sometimes one struggles and the other does not. We do see a lot of horn tooting and gloating by the one who isn't struggling though, when the other is.

That said, I think it is important not to discount the work of God in the children's lives when a child is doing right and is peaceful even if the sibling is having a rough time. IT IS POSSIBLE for the child to be doing right for the right reasons! We can't lose sight of that.