Sibling Rivarly

6 Pages 1381 Words

The Love and Hate between Siblings: Sibling Rivalry
One moment children can look like cherubs cuddling on a Christmas card. At other times when a parent turns their back—a full-scale brawl erupts between the siblings. “Mom, she’s in my room getting into things again!” “Dad, he won’t stop looking out my window!” “Me first! Me first!” So children don’t always get along. In fact, sometimes they seem to genuinely despise each other. Think back to childhood. How well did you get along with your siblings? As long as there are brothers and sisters there will be sibling rivalry. This doesn’t mean parents have to sit back and watch their children tourcher each other. The term ‘sibling’ refers to children who are related and living in the same family (Child Development Institute 1). It’s not strange to here the word sibling; however it is the word “rivalry” that catches society’s attention. The term “rivalry” is usually about something that one sibling has that the other sibling wants. Sibling rivalry has existed since the human race began.
Think back to Biblical times and Joseph’s problems with his brothers (Child Development Institute 1). The Bible records the first murder case of sibling rivalry—Cain; the first-born was irrated at constantly having to help take care of his younger brother, Abel. The story of Cain and Abel had a tragic ending; Cain became so angry he killed Abel (Faull 88). Though sibling rivalry is an age-old obsession, surprisingly few formal studies have not probed the psychological impact of conflict between brothers and sisters; nor have they examined how parents arbitrate those disputes (Barovick 91). Many parents follow the popular lore: it’s best for the siblings to work it out for themselves. A study published in Development Psychology found that most parents follow the popular lore’ even the parents feel the popular is ineffective. Over the years...