Parenting — Sibling Rivalry

• Sibling Rivalry – Revisited

  Who imagines that Sibling Rivalry is a normal and natural activity that is neither bad nor all that different from all other human relationships?

• “He ain’t heavy . . . He’s my brother”

  I have seen some nasty cases of siblings who, if given the chance, would put their brother or sister in the goodwill pile and revel in their absence forevermore. I didn’t want this to happen with my kids. My brother and I were (and still are) best friends and I wanted that for my babies. But how?

• Ten Ways To Prevent Kids Fighting

  Fighting among siblings is as natural as the changing of the seasons. And contrary to what many parents believe, sibling rivalry is a sign of mental health in a family. While there may be times when it’s difficult to deal with, there are some simple things you can do to limit fighting and make it tolerable.

• Reducing Sibling Rivalry

  Our siblings are usually the people we know longest in this life, but it’s striking how many people have distant, even hostile relations with their brothers and sisters. Family tensions related to sibling rivalries wear on parents individually, and sometimes can challenge their marriage – so it’s important to tackle them in steady, systematic ways.

• Encourage Positive Connections Between Siblings

  From the start, treat each of your children in a special way. With new additions to the family, continue to make your other children feel special and give them extra time and attention.

• Soothing Sibling Rivalry

  Jealousy, competition, favoritism, difficulty sharing To some extent, each of these branches of the tree of “sibling rivalry” grow in every family. “Where two or more children are gathered in one family, there contention will be also” isn’t in the bible, but it sure seems like it could be!

• Siblings & Peer Relations

  Every sibling, brothers or sisters, will inescapably have differences in attitudes, values, beliefs, tastes, and/or opinions. Here are some techniques to help our children learn better ways to get along with each other.

• Fighting Siblings – “What Do I Do?”

  Bill Cosby once said, “You aren’t really a parent until you’ve had your second child.” Parents of one child won’t really understand this. Parents of two or more children will relate to this statement immediately. He was referring to the seemingly constant bickering and fighting between brothers and sisters.