Here are some ways parents can avoid sibling rivalry:- Teach your kids that they should only be competing with who they were yesterday – not anyone else.
- Teach your kids that their sibling is there to help them, not compete with them.
- Measuring up themselves.
- Get your children to regularly identify strengths they see in each other.
- Give your children a problem or difficult question in a certain subject (Maths is always the best subject to use here), and tell them to work together to try and solve it. Add some sort of incentive if they work well together.
- Catch your children helping each other and openly recognise and congratulate them for doing it.
- Encourage your kids to play team sports alongside one another instead of against one another. This can help them see that it is much easier to succeed while working together rather than against each other.
- Teach your children on the importance of family.
- Show your children how you would like them to behave by being a good example.
Kristen Stralendorf, an educational psychologist at the Family Tree Therapy Center, says parents should “Set your children up to co-operate rather than competing.”
Parents can also avoid comparing their children with one another by:- Avoiding playfully speaking about having a favourite child.
- Letting each child express themselves differently and be who they are.
- Enjoying and celebrating each child’s talents.
- Teaching children positive methods of getting each other’s attention.
Spending as much individual time with each child as possible.