Sometimes in homes there is a certain rivalry between siblings that is difficult to solve, or at least parents feel that they do not know what else they can do. It doesn’t matter what the age differences between siblings are, personality traits, gender, the personality of each one… everything is of great importance. Research shows that sibling relationships often play an important role in how they will interact in other relationships with friends, partners or others later in life.
Parents can play a key role in helping to foster good sibling relationship and reduce sibling rivalry and reduce conflict. By promoting activities for teamwork, establishing routines where children have fun together and giving children tools to be able to work conflicts constructively and respectfully, parents can help siblings develop a good relationship that will help them for the rest of their lives. But how to achieve all this that sounds so good?
Don’t compare your children
Don’t compare your children with each other. In the first place, try not to say things like: ‘Why aren’t you like your brother?’, or perhaps phrases like: ‘Your sister does this better than you’… The comparison of children is the sure way to stoke the fire of sibling rivalry and build resentment.
Always find out what’s behind sibling conflict
Always try to find out what’s behind a conflict between brothers. Do your children tend to fight when one is trying to get the other’s attention? Are they competing for your time and attention? Do they fight more when they are tired or when they are bored? Once you understand the behavior pattern of your children, you will be better able to address the issues they occupy and minimize sibling fights.
Teach them to accept differences
It is very important that children appreciate their differences. If you have one child who likes to sit and read quietly and another who loves to play noisy games and won’t stop moving…acceptance is paramount.When children have vastly different interests and temperaments that have nothing to do with the with each other, conflicts will come out naturally.
The important thing is to teach children to respect their differences. ence, to know what is really important… to love each other. So if one of your children wants to play busy activities while the other prefers quiet games, parents can establish a system in which they can work together to plan how to take turns or find common interests so that both of them have fun together.
Strengthen family ties
It is very important to explain to children and periodically remind them what family is, especially siblings, that it can be a relationship of unbreakable love and support that cannot be break with nothing Remind your children that unity is strength and that siblings are important throughout life. While they may not understand the importance of sibling relationships right now, it’s a message worth repeating because with the time they will realize how right you were.
Remember that it is very important that for children to establish a good sibling bond, they have to spend quality time together, of enjoyment, they must laugh together, have complicity, work as a team, understand respect, know how to listen well, spend quality time and fun with the family, do housework, do activities that unite them… and you are the link.