It can get challenging to manage the dynamics of one family. What’s even more challenging is handling sibling rivalry. It can happen in any home with more than one child and cause parents a lot of distress and concern. Many parents are at crossroads on how to handle sibling rivalry.

Often associated with communication issues, the need for attention, bullying, and unhealthy competition, sibling rivalry is a pretty common occurrence. If you have kids who are more like rivals or you would like to prevent this from happening in the future, these tips I’m about to share with you will be of great help.

1. Listen to Your Kids

Keep communication lines open with your kids at all times and constantly listen to them. Children always attempt to communicate when there’s a dispute with their siblings. It’s important to listen to your kids with an open mind so you can resolve whatever issues they have satisfactorily.

Never lose your temper while your child is talking to you about their feelings. It might be tough to keep a cool head, especially after a hard day’s job. However, you should be able to listen to their argument without losing your temper and come up with the best solution to make everyone happy.  

Since you set the strongest example for your children, you need to role model how to resolve conflicts in a non-aggressive way. 

2. Set Some Rules

Every household should be governed by some rules, yours inclusive. So, set some ground rules for how you expect your children to treat one another. For instance, make a rule of no name-calling or hitting, no matter how stressful or agitated things get between siblings.

3. Combine Chores

Children tend to form a closer bond when they work together. So, give your children specific tasks that require a joint effort. If they know they will continually work together, they’ll consciously prevent any situation that can lead to a dispute. You’ll see that in no time at all, they’ll be good friends again.

4. Don’t Treat your Children Differently

You can’t talk about how to handle sibling rivalry without stating this obvious fact. Your child should never have to doubt your love or feel you love him or her less than you do a sibling. Treat all your kids the same way without any favouritism.

A parent giving preferential treatment to a sibling can cause sibling rivalry. During a dispute, don’t make things worse by taking sides. Be fair when settling disputes among your children.

5. Make Family Time a Bonding Experience

Creating time for the family is non-negotiable. It’s up to you and your schedule to determine how often this will be. Family time can be mealtime, TV time, an outdoor picnic, or whatever suits your family.

The essence of family time is to create an opportunity to solidify relationships and closeness within the family. So, ensure your children communicate with one another during family time and remember to talk about how siblings should support each other. Parents should also model this behavior by being supportive and respectful towards each other.

6. Enhance Life-Long Skills

You can try viewing sibling rivalry from a different perspective. See it as an opportunity to teach your child skills like compromise and negotiation.

Sibling rivalry is a normal emotional state in Children who feel they need to compete for their parent’s love and attention with their siblings. Be intentional in your approach towards resolving sibling rivalry while letting each child know of your love and how unique and special they are.

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