Building healthy sibling relationships starts early! As a parent, you can encourage a positive, nurturing relationship between siblings from an early age. When you teach your kids that they can count on one another for support and encouragement, they will receive the message that their relationship is grounded in love, respect, and trust.
What can you do to encourage a positive, nurturing relationship between your children? Encourage them to look out and stick up for one another, especially in moments when you can’t be there with them. This may be an older sibling helping their younger sibling(s) adjust to a new grade at school or sticking up for them if they’re being bullied. These types of supportive and loving interactions build a foundation of trust, respect, and kindness for your children to build a healthy relationship over time.
Another way you can promote a healthy relationship between your kids starting at an early age is to encourage empathy and focus on feelings, especially when working through disagreements. This may look like teaching kids to use “I” statements to verbalize their feelings and promote understanding during conflict, or it may involve asking them to put themselves in each other’s shoes to better understand one another’s perspectives. With younger children, it’s important to use developmentally appropriate language and to remember that it may take them time to understand more difficult concepts like empathy.