Angelic images of smiling siblings make crowd- pleasing Facebook fodder, but the reality of life with two or more children is decidedly less picture-perfect. According to research from the University of Toronto, toddler-age siblings clash more than six times per hour. On average, siblings under the age of seven fight every 20 minutes. And fights that get physical can leave lasting physical and emotional scars. If sibling fighting is stealing the peace in your household, read on for relief.
It was the day after Halloween when my five-year-old daughter had an ‘important’ question for me: “How many more days until Christmas?” she asked. “It is still almost two months away,” I responded. She stood her ground, hands on her hips, clearly not satisfied with this news. “Okay then, what about Easter?” was her follow-up. “Even longer!” I said, laughing at her persistence.
Everyone, adults and children, live with some level of stress. After all, life is full of challenges. For adults, these challenges might be financial pressures, relationship or marital problems, job-related issues, and the like. The pressures in children’s lives may seem minor to adults, but these pressures are very real to our kids. Will they deal with their challenges head on, avoid them, or cope with them, passively?
Mommy, he took my toy!” “Get out of the bathroom already! Argh!” “I can’t believe her, she unfriended me!” Sound familiar? If you’re the parent of a toddler, tween or teen, you’ve likely heard some variation of these recently. These distress calls, while not the most pleasant sounds of parenting, are heard from children of all ages during disputes with siblings, friends and, yes, even their parents.
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