As a parent to more than one child, I’m sure you’ve experienced that sibling rivalry that comes with any child who has a sibling. Siblings are a unique set of people. Siblings have this friendship like no other but also have this competition like no other. So as parents, my husband & I focus
Today I’m going to discuss the sibling relationship and how you can work to create positive sibling relationships for your children to thrive together as a family.
Ways to Create Positive Sibling Relationships
Promote Liked Activities
As your children start to play together you’ll notice that they play certain activities together better than others. Notice which activities encourage a positive sibling relationship and promote those liked activities. Encouraging your children to play activities that help them grow their sibling relationship in a positive way will curb any negativity that occurs between the siblings.
Share Parental Attention
Often times siblings start to get a little unruly with each other when they feel that one is getting more attention than the other. Try to establish some special time with each of your children so that all siblings are able to have some quality time alone with their parent. This will help to alleviate any jealous feelings that are caused when one feels they get more attention than the other.
Bedtime Routine
Just like you probably tuck your children into bed and say goodnight, it’s important that you have siblings do the same thing. Encourage your children to say goodnight and I love you to each other. Let’s face it, one child will probably be more willing to do this if it isn’t something that’s been done from day one, but in time you’ll see this small act helps create positive sibling relationships.
Allow Space
Children do need to have their own space to be alone from time to time. While siblings tend to consume each other as they do live in the same household and quite possibly enjoy some of the same activities, it’s important that you encourage individual play as well. Allowing the siblings to have some space from each other will help them to learn how to miss each other and appreciate each other more.
Help With Conflict
No matter what you do to create positive sibling relationships, they are individual human beings. This means you’ll find that your children will have conflict. Try to allow your children the time to resolve conflict on their own, but if you have to interrupt the situation, be sure that you sit all siblings down to help them communicate and resolve conflict on their own.
There you have it, some simple ways to create positive sibling relationships. The best tip I have for you, as a parent, is to remember that your children are just like us in that they have their own individual needs. So as long as the siblings feel like their needs are tended to, they’ll start to have a more positive sibling relationship that will last a lifetime.