Siblings Fighting Here’s The Book For You

A while ago I gave a talk for the folks at Ernst and Young, (who gave me a lovely picnic blanket as a thank you gift by the way).  I was very impressed with their family-friendly flexible workplace.  Even the partners can work a three day week!

I was there talking during a lunch-hour seminar about misbehaviour. During the question period we got onto the topic of sibling rivalry.  You can’t have a room full of parents and not have this issue come up!

I recommended a book called Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish.  This book not only has good content, but it is written in an easy to read format with cartoons that offer up great language you can borrow. Okay so I can’t reproduce the cartoons in frames to give you full effect, but here is an example from the book that I refer to frequently:

Instead of worrying about giving equal amounts…

Child: “you gave him more than me”
Parent: “I did not. I gave you each four”
Child: “but his are bigger!”
Parent: “no they are not. I made them exactly the same size”

Focus on each child’s individual needs.

Child: “you gave him more than me”
Parent: “are you still hungry?”
Child: “a little”
Parent: “would you like a half a pancake or are you hungry enough for a whole?

If you have more than one child, this is a must read.