Brother Sister Relationships - From Children to Adults

Brother Sister Relationships often are a mix of love, jealousy, competition and friendship. Siblings relationships change with time and are influenced by many factors.

One of the factors that plays a major role is the age difference.

Siblings of a similar age are more competitive as children, but generally closer as adults.

Siblings who are further apart in age are less competitive as children, but generally further apart as adults.

One of the main challenges that a brother and sister will have to face as children is sibling rivalry which may range from fights to jealousy and hurt.

Some tips for parents to reduce the sibling rivalry in children:

Don't take sides.

Openly listen to the issues of each child.

Stay fair, but try to accommodate the individual needs of each child.

Discourage violence and physical aggression.

Separate children if they get overly emotional.

Try to spend exclusive time with each child.

As the brother and sister turn into adults, their relationship will change. Your differences make you unique, so try to respect each others differences and choices. If you put some work into it, you can become good friends.

Tips for adult siblings to improve their relationship:

Try to spend more time together. You may enjoy an evening of traveling back in time and remembering your funny childhood moments, fights over toys, etc.

Send your sibling a card or present every once in a while.

Learn more about their interests, and praise their achievements. Sometime it's just the support that's well appreciated.

Offer help and support to your sibling when they need it and look out for one another.

Show them that they can be themselves around you.

Treat your sibling as en equal, even if you are much older than them. They have their ups and downs, but many adult siblings can become close and caring friends.

Sometimes the older a brother and sister gets, the more they can drift away from each other. Going after separate lives and doing different things.

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