While these may seem like small points, using comparisons and labels and praise between siblings can cause bad feelings.
Comparisons can be direct like, “why can’t you be more like your sister?” or indirect, “look how neatly your brother keeps his room!” or, “your sister was on time, but we are always waiting on you.” Any negative comparison makes the child feel badly, and overtime it builds resentment towards the other sibling. If you need to encourage a behavior, the better approach is to state it directly such as, “go clean your room,” or, “I need you to be on time.”
Labels assign children roles. This can be as simple as, “this is our big boy, and this is our baby.” Big boy implies responsibility, baby implies none. The baby label can be problematic on it’s own if used long past the point of the child being a baby. A seven-year-old with the baby label may expect to do less in the way of chores or academics because the thinking is, ‘I’m a baby.’
Labels can also be bigger such as, “this is our student, and this is our athlete.” What you just said to the first is, “you’re not so coordinated,” and to the second, “you’re not so smart.” It’s better to avoid the labels and open wider opportunities to each. Get your student signed up for something athletic, and get your athlete a tutor.
Praise should be given individually. This means avoid giving one child praise to curb their sibling’s behavior. You want to avoid saying, “wow Johny, look how neatly you keep your room,” and then glaring at his sister. It is fine to praise Johny for his clean room, but your intent should be clean. You should be praising him for what you noticed, NOT to curb his sister. If you need the sister to clean her room, just say it directly to her. When you give praise in a relative way, it is negative for both. Obviously it’s not good to be the one that got knocked, but it’s still not good to be the one that got praised in spite of sibling. There is a need to stay on top, to keep others down which is a seed of sibling rivalry.
To learn more about sibling relationships, managing competition between siblings and the effects of birth order, attend my Birth Order and Sibling Rivalry workshop in the evening on May 22. For more information and to register, please visit http://www.eventbrite.com/o/parenting-by-dr-rene-parenting-playgroups-283710166?s=1328924.
Parenting by Dr. Rene 