If you have more than one child then chances are you’re having to deal with sibling rivalry. This includes fighting over the smallest things such as the last slice of pizza, who’s going to sit in the front seat, a toy, or pretty much anything else under the sun. Siblings will often fight and anything and everything and it’s usually up to the parents to be the referee in this. It’s frustrating, it’s exhausting, and it’s unfortunately normal. While sibling rivalry is pretty inevitable, it can indeed be manageable. There are thankfully a few ways to make it not so bad. Here are some helpful tips to put an end to these constant fights!
Why do siblings become rivals?
It usually ends up with them competing for desires, and the desires are sometimes the same. Siblings tend to be very different as well, regardless of whether you raise them the same. Their development stages will be different, their interests, and their personalities overall. While not often, mental health can play a part of it well, such as having bipolar disorder in children.
Sometimes they both want the same thing, this could be as little as a turn on the tablet, but it could even be the feeling of having to compete for love and attention from their parents. This rivalry can get worse in the future such as fights, self-esteem, mental health, and one of them can go on an unsafe path. While sibling rivalry can be inevitable (especially if they’re close in age), it can be manageable with these tips.
Create a cooperative environment
It’s best to make parenting easier on yourself. Try your best to compare your children to one another, never try to favor one, and certainly never try to encourage any sort of competition between them either. It’s important to set a good example for your children and to allow compromise. Children see how their parents interact with one another. If you fight with your spouse, they’re going to emulate that. It’s important to properly handle fights with your partner and letting them see that is going to lead to a great example on how they need to address their conflicts. For example, if one of your children wants a sleepover and the other is upset with not getting one, look for a compromise.
Be fair
It’s important to treat your children fairly, unfortunately, this does not mean equality. Each one of your children has their own personality and interests. This means that their punishments and their rewards should be tailored as well.
Encourage positivity
It’s important to encourage your children to spend time together so they can think of their siblings in a more positive light. This can include having family dinners and doing fun activities together such as shopping, board games, traveling, but it can even be as simple as walking to the beach. Having more positive memories is going to help your children get along better.
Appreciate them
A part of sibling rivalry stems from wanting love, affection, and attention from their parents. So it’s very important to spend time with each child individually. It’s so important to let each child know how important they are to you and how much you accept them for who they are.
