Some days they want to kill each other – others they are nice as pie and just get on. Siblings. We want each sibling to grow up looking out for each other and hope that when we are no longer around they will have a strong sibling bond to be there for each other in times of happiness, and also in times of trouble (should they happen). Connecting our children is not that easy and although we can work hard in getting each sibling to respect and love each other, the hard work is down to them. They need to spend enough time with each other to work out their similarities and see their differences and respect them. We can start the ball rolling by giving them a helping hand…..
Help Your Children Create A Strong Sibling Bond By..
Having regular family time and insisting that everyone in the family has to be a part of it. Family time is a great way of creating memories for your children later on in life, even if they don’t appreciate it right now. You could have long walks on a Sunday morning or have a weekly ‘everyone cook together in the kitchen’. Look at your whole family and the age range. What activities would suit all of you and are feasible? One morning a week or one evening is sufficient to start and keep a family tradition going without overkill.
As I mentioned dinner is a great way to encourage a strong sibling bond amongst your children. Dinner provides a great time to natter about school, friends and have discussions on various topics. You can all chip in asking questions and sharing stories and experiences lets siblings know more about them and who they are. It is much harder when your children are older to get them to talk so start early and build this tradition of family dinner time. Even if they don’t talk they are there listening and hopefully not on their phone!
Another idea is to help them find common ground between them. Find that one thing that they all like doing and encourage them to do it together. It may be that you have to get involved at first but once they get into the said interest they can go off and do it on their own.
A family that plays together stays together and I think this is the same for siblings. If they are used to being around each other sharing traditions they have more chance of maintaining a closeness. What do you think?
To read more about sibling bonds and all things parenting please take a look at The Parent’s Toolkit.
Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
