Sibling rivalry
By comfort55
@comfort55 (1574)
India
January 9, 2009 8:43am CST
When I used to teach in a primary class, I had seen a horrible case of sibling rivalry. There was a boy student in my class. His sister was in another class and she used to come during break time. I used to watch that she would always fight and most of the time hit her brother. One could make out that she hated him badly. One day on asking, she told me that her parents love her brother, whereas they don't love her. Here I found the reason for this rivalry.
One more case I have seen of two sisters, where one sister hates her younger one. Now both of them are having grown up children, but still the elder one does not speak to her younger sister for no fault of hers.
Have you ever been the victim of such rivalry or have seen anywhere?
6 responses
@checapricorn (16061)
• United States
9 Jan 09
[i]Hi comfort,
I am very close to my Sister though we used to fight a lot when we were kids. I love her a lot and I know she loves me too!
Our Parents treat us fairly and I am very proud that they never let us feel that one is loved more than the other!
I wish every parent will be sensitive enough on the emotions of their kids and will not favor anyone of them![/i]
1 person likes this
@comfort55 (1574)
• India
9 Jan 09
You are lucky that your parents have treated you fairly. We are four sisters. I am the third one. My sister who is elder to me has been treating me badly right from the childhood. Actually this is my own story because till date she hates me and tries to poison my parents' mind against m.e I do agree that I was the apple of my parents' eye. I can understand the reason for my sis's harsh behaviour.
1 person likes this
@checapricorn (16061)
• United States
9 Jan 09
[i]ohhh....I also understand why other Parents favor one or 2 of their kids, sometimes, the attitudes also!
I hope your sister will feel that she is also loved so that she will not have that bad attitude of criticizing you to get attention![/i]
1 person likes this
@comfort55 (1574)
• India
10 Jan 09
You see, till now I am bearing the brunt of this mistake in which I've nothing to do.
@SilverBear (28)
• Canada
14 Jan 09
My Brother and I have been having sibling rivalry since we were toddlers fighting for attention from our parents. When we compete in sports events or when we are just at home playing board games it's like a constant rivalry. We are teens now but the rivalry is still there. Some how I feel it prepares me for the real life one day when I'm out of university going into business. It's a dog eat dog world out there.
1 person likes this
@comfort55 (1574)
• India
15 Jan 09
Spirit of healthy competetion is good among any two persons, whether siblings or friends...but there should be no hatred as that is not good in the long run, for both.
@riyasam (16556)
• India
9 Jan 09
hate is too strong a word but there used to be fight among us siblings .i have one one younger brother and a younger sister.they used to tell me that my parents favor me over them as i am the first born.now,i am mother of 2 kids but i get along famously with my siblings.
@comfort55 (1574)
• India
10 Jan 09
You are right Riya, small fights are ok between siblings, but unfortunately I've seen hatred among one of them.
@kalav56 (11464)
• India
15 Jan 09
Sibling rivalry is a very sad thing and people htere have beeen very many cases .
In most cases it is a fight over some kind of common resource.
At other times it is a feeling generated by hte parents themselves where one child is unnecessarily asked to be a shadow to another or is considered favoured by the parents.
THey should have a clear , helathy open relationship and for this the parents should be an encouraging factor and not a pontifying factor.
'Playing 'big brother' 'big sister' would not work 
@comfort55 (1574)
• India
10 Jan 09
You are lucky steph. I wish and hope that there should be no hatred between such a close realation as siblings.
@dhaksha80 (143)
• Singapore
9 Jan 09
Sibling Rivalry is most common in the childhood. Almost in every home the elder one tends to hate the younger ones bcoz the younger ones are getting more attention than the elder ones. At that time it is the parents who should speak with elder child,make him explained that elder also got more attention when he/she was younger. Since the baby is younger to you you should take care of your younger ones. Some child take this in a positive way and start to take care of the younger,some will not.
1 person likes this
@comfort55 (1574)
• India
9 Jan 09
I agree with you dhaksha, it entirely depends on parents, how they treat their kids. Everyone tends to love the younger sibling, but more care has to be taken with the elder one. Most of the time, parents mistake makes two siblings lifelong enemies.
