I’ve thought about Connor and Isabella Cruise a lot over the last several months. Maybe because it seems like no one else seems to think about them at all.

People can’t stop talking about or taking pictures of or mooning over their two-year-old half-sister as well as the highly-anticipated arrival of another half-sibling in the next few months. Even their parents seem to act like these new children in their lives have made Dad and Step-mom and Mom and Step-dad happier than they’ve ever been.

Hmmm.

I used to see this a lot when I was a seventh-grade teacher. Many of my students were from round one of their parents’ lives and round two–according to many of the young adolescents–often didn’t leave much room for them. I think that new siblings with new spouses or partners can lead to this feeling more often than parents realize. Sometimes it seems that children from the previous relationship just don’t count as much-like an out with the old, in with the new type of thing…at least in the eyes of a child or from an outsider’s point of view.

I don’t remember seeing pictures of a four-tiered cake from Connor’s second birthday party or hearing of Isabella’s magical qualities. I’m sure their parents love all of their children equally but it seems like they have a strange way of showing it at times.