Title: Identify strategies to manage sibling rivalry.
Course: GRADS: Family Focus (19905-36) > Section: Managing Family Relationships

Identification should include

- understanding the feelings of each child
- understanding personality characteristics of the youngest, middle, and older child
- spending time alone with each child
- understanding that sibling rivalry is natural
- understanding that each child wants to be first and best in the parents’ eyes
- understanding that siblings who fight at home will often protect one another outside of the home.

Process/Skill Questions

Thinking

- How might birth order affect sibling rivalry?
- Why do you think siblings are protective of one another outside the home?

Communication

- How can a parent communicate to each child that they are loved and appreciated uniquely and solely for the individual he/she is?
- How might the different parental expectations of the youngest, middle, and older child affect sibling rivalry?

Leadership

- Why do child experts say that there is less sibling rivalry between children who are at least three years apart from one another in age?
- What strategies could be implemented to ensure that parents spend regular time alone with each child?

Management

- What might be the consequences for all involved when a parent spends more time with one child?
- What strategies could a parent implement to encourage siblings to be involved in each other’s activities?
- How can responsible and caring family members and friends help you to spend time alone with each child?