Sibling Relationships & Sibling Rivalry

Help Us Help Others:

The Relationship Between Siblings

Eighty-two percent of American children have siblings, and the impact that brothers and sisters have on each other’s development is profound. Siblings are among our very first relational experiences, and are typically our most enduring ones. As psychologist Hara estroff Marano writes, “Despite siblings’ power to inflame, they are the longest-lasting relationships many of us ever have. Others may help us become who we are, but no one else knows us from the beginning to the end…” (2010, p. 56)

Unfortunately, this power can cut both ways: while it can enrich a child’s life and make them stronger, it can also inflict permanent wounds that become the source of ongoing distress. In conducting interviews for their book Siblings Without Rivalry, Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish report: “I had always been aware of the part that parents played in shaping their children’s lives, but never until this moment had I considered how powerfully siblings could affect each other’s destiny. Yet here was one grown man saying he still has to be the boss; another who is still driving himself to keep up; a woman who still feels she can never measure up; and another who is still suffering from having to be ‘the good girl.’ And mainly because of who their siblings happened to be.” (1998, p. 10) Of course, it isn’t so much the siblings themselves that exert such power; it’s how the God’s of every child’s universe (you the parents) treat them in relation to their siblings.

Parenting also changes once you bring a second child into the family. In fact, the problems parents have in managing sibling rivalry and sibling conflict is probably the #1 most difficult parenting challenge families face. It’s what gives rise to most of their every-day hassles, and the conundrums presented by sibling conflict has left many-a-parent perplexed.

How to better manage sibling relationships

With so much riding on the relationship your kids have with one another, it’s worth taking a little extra time to learn how to better manage sibling relationships. Our eBook, Super Siblings will arm you with time-tested techniques for parenting siblings, everything from how to discipline so that the kids don’t constantly drag you into their battles. To create incentive systems and teamwork building activities that will dramatically reduce the amount of conflict in your home. It’s just $7.99 (a tiny price to pay for the return on investment you will get from this book). All proceeds from your purchase go to help kids in need. You can also select from the free online information linked below.

Information for Parents on Dealing With Siblings

The following information is available online for free:

Sibling Relationships

Sibling Rivalry & Jealously

Sibling Conflict & Fighting Between Siblings

Sibling Conflict
Why kids fight: the causes of sibling conflict
Kids fighting over toys or other property
Getting kids to share their toys
Kids hitting each other (eBook)
How to deal with sibling fighting (eBook)
Solutions for sibling conflict (eBook)
Sibling cruelty
Sibling animosity
How to prevent sibling conflict (eBook)

Promoting positive sibling relationships

More information on Sibling relationships

Has Sibling bickering left you frustrated? Learn how to reduce the fighting and improve your children’s sibling relationships in our eBook Super Siblings. It’s just $7.99 and all author proceeds from your purchase go to help kids in need.

Get Your Copy Super Siblings

Here’s a preview of just some of the information you’ll find in the eBook:

Sibling relationships

The complex nature of sibling relationships
Realistic expectations for your kids
How siblings benefit from one another

The roles children play in the family
Children routinely fall into patterns or roles within the family that guide the way they behave. Learn how these roles impact sibling dynamics and how they might contribute to the problems you experience.

Separate but fair
Parents often drive themselves nuts trying to ensure equal treatment between their kids in every facet of life. This chapter will teach parents how to instill the concept that fairness does not always perfectly equitable treatment, so that kids don’t expect to be treated exactly the same as their sibling.

Labeling and comparing kids (eBook)
Parents frequently (and inadvertently) label and compare their children to one another. In our eBook we show the subtle ways in which parents do this and offer tips to help reverse this trend of sibling comparison.

Parental favoritism

Why parents have favorites (eBook)
Dealing with favoritism (eBook)
Talking to kids about favoritism (eBook)
How to overcome thoughts of favoritism (eBook)
Little Miss Goody Two-Shoes: Protecting the favored child from the burden of too much praise (eBook)

Bringing a new baby into the family

Sibling aggression towards a baby {eBook)
Dealing with jealousy of the new baby and other behavioral problems (eBook)
Regression to baby-like behaviors in older brothers and sisters (eBook)