Search Results for: blog stop the sibling rivalry

Siblings Sharing Parents Experience Lifelong Effects

Did you get along with your siblings when you were a child? What’s your relationship with them like now that all of you are adults? Researchers have discovered that brothers and sisters who share parents can have a very different experience from each other. What they found can help parents of today make their kid’s relationship with their siblings into a more positive experience. An article at Medical Daily was written by Chris Weller. In it, he points out that each kid that has to share his or her parents with their siblings has a different experience – even though … Continue reading →

Sibling Rivalry

Either sisters behave differently than brothers do, or my mom has conveniently developed a sort of amnesia about what she witnessed between my sister and I when my sister was a baby. As many parents do, I sometimes ask my mom about what my sister and I were like as children. I’m not sure if she is afraid to offend or if time has faded the memories of any early rivalry but according to my mom, there was no drama when she brought my sister home from the hospital or in the months that followed. The rivalry that eventually developed, … Continue reading →

Promoting a Positive Sibling Adjustment

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My last blogs talked about the difficulties siblings may experience in an adoption and the positives of having siblings in adoptive families. In our experience, my three-year-old was very loving toward his one-year-old sister initially. He would often sigh and comment, “Wow, babies sure cry a lot” (we’d prepared him for this), but generally seemed okay. A few months later, however, he did have a couple of times yelling “send that baby back to Korea!” This was especially hard for us to hear before the adoption was finalized. Afterwards it didn’t bother us so much. I believe one of the … Continue reading →

How Involved Should You Get in Sibling Spats?

Sibling rivalry and sibling disagreements is a fact of life if you have more than one child. While the actual intensity of those battles and fights may differ from family to family–the reality is that if you have more than one, there’s going to be some tussles and rumbles over possessions, attention, and just about anything and everything else. The challenge for parents often comes in trying to decide how involved he or she should get in helping to mediate and alleviate those sibling spats. I confess that I’ve moved back and forth between mediating and letting them work out … Continue reading →

Report Says Sibling Spats Are Inevitable

Sometimes I worry that as Tyler gets older he’ll miss having a sibling. Then again when I think about the squabbles, the “make him stop looking at me”, the sibling rivalry— well, maybe being an only child’s not such a bad thing. If you have more than one child, you probably get your fill of sibling spats, perhaps a daily dose even. Now a new report says that these sibling spats are inevitable. The study was conducted by researchers at Pennsylvania State University. I found some of the conclusions drawn by the researchers a bit odd. Here are a few … Continue reading →

Stop the Sibling Rivalry

Having kids that fight is tough in any home but when you are the only parent trying to keep peace makes it even more challenging. Having just one child is completely different from having two. Then, when you consider that children each have a unique personality, there will be clashes. My own kids actually got along extremely well but I was a single parent and we did have some sibling rivalry. However, I realized early on that it had to be under control or I was going to lose my mind. With more than one child in the house, there … Continue reading →

When Parents Play Favorites

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Which one of your children is your favorite? This controversial question is one that most parents cannot answer. They love all their children equally (as they should). Problems arise when parents make it clear that they have a favorite child. Those same problems come up when a child perceives that his or her parents are playing favorites – even if the parents are not actually doing that. A study done by Alex Jensen (and others) found something that could be really troubling to parents. It is entirely possible for parents to treat all of their children equally and still have … Continue reading →

Walking The Same Road In A Different Way

Today, Dylan, Blake, and I went out for a walk after dinner. There was still plenty of daylight left and I thought that it would be a nice way to relax and unwind as we got closer to bedtime. Usually when we all go out for a walk, I wear Blake in a front pack and Dylan rides in a jogging stroller. That is how we started out. About four minutes into the walk, Dylan started to get upset. I asked him what he needed, and he told me that he wanted to get out of the stroller. I tried … Continue reading →

Getting Through The Tough Spots

Being a parent is challenging as well as rewarding. One of the reasons that it is so challenging is that our children can bring about opportunities for personal growth that seem more like problems instead of opportunities when they arise. Sometimes we can see the opportunity in the moment and follow it. Other times, though, we get stuck. Dr. Laura Markham of Aha! Parenting.com offers some helpful advice about why we become stuck in negative patterns with our children and what we can do about it. In this first part of a two – part discussion about this topic, let’s … Continue reading →

Thank Goodness for Cousins

As the mother of an only child I worry about my child’s ability to interact and get along with other children. Especially after my divorce I worried that Hailey would not spend enough time with other children, outside of school, to learn good social skills. It seemed that when I got divorced many of the friends I had while I was married drifted away, and with them, went the friendships my daughter had with their children. The divorce also effectively shut the door on any siblings she might have. This makes me especially grateful for my family. My sisters and … Continue reading →