Sibling rivalry is almost a fact of life. At least I have never heard of a multi children family where there was no sibling rivalry and the children never fought. The best way to resolve these fights is surely that they work it out themselves. However this isn’t always possible and there are times that you will have to be a policeman. In this article I point a few things that you have to be careful about when you are forced to police a sibling fight.
1.Don’t be blinded by the “glare of a tear”. A lot of times children can fake cry, exaggerate the pain, instigated the fight in the first place. Don’t pass judgement based only on tears. Hear both sides of the story before you give your verdict.
2. Don’t fall for the excuse of “What could I do, I tried talking to him… he just didn’t stop”. Children make choices like adults make choices. If there is an obnoxious person at work who is VERY annoying, do you hit him? Just like you don’t hit an obnoxious person, there is no excuse for one sibling his younger brother or sister (no matter how irritating they are)
3. Don’t assume that the one who complains is right. I have seen so many times with my own children and with the families that I work with, that a lot of children (and also adults) complain about someone else when they are the ones at fault. Beware of this tactic.
Just like sibling fighting is nearly inevitable so too it is almost inevitable that you will have referee some of these fights.
1.Don’t be blinded by the “glare of a tear”. A lot of times children can fake cry, exaggerate the pain, instigated the fight in the first place. Don’t pass judgement based only on tears. Hear both sides of the story before you give your verdict.
2. Don’t fall for the excuse of “What could I do, I tried talking to him… he just didn’t stop”. Children make choices like adults make choices. If there is an obnoxious person at work who is VERY annoying, do you hit him? Just like you don’t hit an obnoxious person, there is no excuse for one sibling his younger brother or sister (no matter how irritating they are)
3. Don’t assume that the one who complains is right. I have seen so many times with my own children and with the families that I work with, that a lot of children (and also adults) complain about someone else when they are the ones at fault. Beware of this tactic.
Just like sibling fighting is nearly inevitable so too it is almost inevitable that you will have referee some of these fights.