Competition is quite inevitable in any facet of society. Even the typical family is not exempted from this fact. This is because sibling rivalry does exist in a lot of families. In fact, sibling rivalry is considered one of the common problems families all over America face nowadays.

If sibling rivalry does exist in your family, you do not really have immediate reason to worry. This is because it is but human nature to be a bit competitive towards the people you are almost always in contact with. Not just competitive, you know, because there just might come to a point wherein siblings would feel envious of each other for different reasons.

Typically, sibling rivalry starts with the birth of the second child. The unfortunate fact here is that a lot of parents choose to ignore the problem, mostly because they figure the problem would disappear in the long run. However, sibling rivalry should not be ignored at all because this can escalate to a much higher degree. A lot of familial relationships have even become hampered due to sibling rivalry. Thus, this is indeed a family problem that should warrant much attention from parents.

But how do you know that the situation is already that of sibling rivalry? This is quite easy to determine. If the occasional fights between two siblings have somehow become constant already, then this could very well be sibling rivalry already. What’s more, if their arguments are on a series basis, then this is indeed a strong sign of sibling rivalry already.

As parents, there are a number of things that you can do. First and foremost, you have to exert much effort in making sure both siblings receive attention and praise of equal amount. This is very vital because there will indeed come a time when the siblings would compete for your attention and praise. Thus, giving both siblings equal attention and care early on can alleviate the situation.

Secondly, you can encourage your children to explore different interests. Just because they are siblings does not mean that they have to take part in the same activities all throughout their lives. Your children have to discover for themselves their individual interests and preferences. With your encouragement, your children just might participate in different activities, thus, giving them fewer chances and reasons to compete against each other. Of course, they could still compete with each other for your attention, especially when it comes to school performances and other activities that would require your presence. This would still boil down to giving your children equal amount of attention, time, and praise.

There may be times when you would find one child more behaved or cooperative than another. This is a very normal scenario because it really cannot be helped at all. You have two individuals whose personalities can differ at every possible facet. As parents, you would be exposed to these differences as well. However, the responsible thing to do here is to keep your comparison under wraps. Do not let your children know these observations of yours. Disclosure of such observations can just lead to more sibling rivalry in the end. This would just make the feelings of jealousy and bitterness more intense.

Lastly, you should also employ Active Listening. Most parents think that the act of telling the children to stop fighting would actually stop the fight. This is not true at all. The battle may be over, but the war certainly is not because the children could very well be waging another battle inside themselves. Thus, it is better to have a platform for your children to express their feelings about the situation, and their resentment against each other. Be as objective as possible when you acknowledge each child’s feelings.