Dealing with Sibling Rivalry
Take, for instance, a scenario with two of my daughters, who generally get along for the most part. I was sitting in the backyard writing the latest article in my notebook (I'm a freelance writer) while the kids played gleefully. Then, all of a sudden I hear, "Nuh-uh." "Uh-huh" "Nuh-uh." "Uh-huh." After a couple repeats of this scenario often heard in sibling rivalry scenarios, I had to do something.
I am known for getting creative with my parenting solutions. I also like to treasure every moment of motherhood, even difficult circumstances because they often teach lessons and make me a stronger person. Anyway, an idea to make a memory, as well as solve this recent bout of sibling rivalry, I quietly slipped away for a few moments to grab the camera.
I snapped a picture at the moment they were going back and forth with the "nuh-uh's" and "uh-huh's." That snapped their attention and they started to laugh. The first part of the parenting strategy was working. They stopped disagreeing. I showed them the picture to let them know how silly they looked going back and forth like that.
That turned the sibling rivalry situation around into a more positive one. In fact, when I asked what they had been arguing about, they couldn't even remember. They hugged each other, said their apologies, and ran off to continue playing. We now have a fun photo to look at and remember the laughs we had that day. If a similar situation comes up again, that photo will also be a great tool to remind the kids how silly sibling rivalry is. It's much more fun to get along.
Published by Lyn Lomasi - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
Lyn's the Community Advocate at Yahoo! Contributor Network. Contact her with community issues & ideas. She's been contributing since 2007 and previously acted as a Community Guide. Read her tips for success... View profile
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15 Comments
Post a CommentUGH - My kids fight ALL THE TIME. I hate it.
I am a mother of twelve, sonaturally I have got to deal with these issues. My children age form 25 years to 25 weeks(approximately) so I have huge issues. My eldest daughter Emma is married now and has left home... but we live in a huge amount of land so now she lives really close... and she is pregnant with twins! Another two children! I think people just have to accept that where there's kids, there's arguments. You don't need to worry about general fighting. It is when a child feels excluded fro the family, or like they are not wanted that we have a problem.
;o)
Isn't it funny how often they don't even remember why they're fighting? Great approach. I wrote an article about a creative way I dealt with sibling rivalry, too. I guess great minds think alike. Either that or mommies just deal with this problem a lot! :)
Well, for some people it never ends! Hope your kids do better than my sister and I!!
clever!
Good work.
Interesting approach.
This happens quite often to some. Thanks for sharing. :)
This is an interesting approach to dealing with sibling rivalry.