How do you cope with sibling rivalry?
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Parents, it drives you nuts. It gets under your skin. It creeps up on you, snakelike, and slaps you in the face. You will fight about it. You will threaten and you will want to turn yourself inside and out because you can’t stand it. What is this evil, this sickness? Sibling rivalry.
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Parents, it drives you nuts. It gets under your skin. It creeps up on you, snakelike, and slaps you in the face. You will fight about it. You will threaten and you will want to turn yourself inside and out because you can’t stand it. What is this evil, this sickness? Sibling rivalry.
How big is sibling rivalry? So big that it’s even got its own band and a brand of wine.
You and I shouldn’t get too down on ourselves, turns out if your kids can’t stand each other, at least you can console yourself with music and alcohol!
Sibling rivalry can drive you crazy. The constant bickering is worse than a leaking tap or than fingers-on-chalkboard. It gets under your skin like bamboo shoots. It’s nothing but a form of subtle torture.
Sibling rivalry may just do you in unless you have a set of iron-clad coping skills. Here are the strategies I use to keep me sane when the sib-rivalry amps up.
10 Sibling Rivalry Coping Strategies:
- Run. Away. Now.
- Drink. You can drink Sibling Rivalry, but that might be too painful. So drink anything. Don’t be too picky.
- Listen to loud music and…
- Scream. Not at your kids, not at your spouse, not at yourself. Just scream. When you scream, you can let it all out.
- Pray for help. Spiritual people live longer, so at least you can outlive the conflicts.
- Be strategic. The more they fight, give them chores. Get them to clean the house. You will save cash on housecleaning.
- Write poetry. Nothing expresses your thoughts better than poetry. Why do you think Shakespeare wrote so much? He had three children. Sure, his poetry paid the bills but do you think Romeo and Juliet would have been so dark without Shakespear’s sibling-rivalry-fueled-rage?
- Spend time with your single friends. Listen to them cry about how they feel so lonely. Then let them look after your kids. You will solve two problems: they will feel less lonely and you will ditch and run.
- Meditate. Put on headphones. Close your eyes and imagine happy thoughts. Then eat something because you have earned the ice cream.
- Cancel it out. One of the best sibling rivalry defense strategies is to buy sound canceling headphones. Wear them with pride. Just remember to smile and nod every now and then so they don’t catch on.
I write articles about wellness, leadership, parenting and personal growth. My hope is to deliver the best content I can to inspire, to inform and to entertain.
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Keep it Real
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