How To Get Along With Your Siblings.

Now I know from personal experience that getting along with your siblings can sometimes be a challenge. Although stopping fighting completely is nearly impossible, there are some ways to make sure that it doesn’t happen as much and how to resolve an existing conflict. So in this post, I’m going to give you pointers on how to get along with your siblings, even if they’re driving you absolutely insane. First, I’m going to give you the pointers that http://kidshealth.org suggests. Next, I’m going to give you pointers that students from my school that have siblings suggest. Lastly, I’m going to share with you how I get along with my four older brothers.

http://kidshealth.org is a website that gives out information on “…health, behavior, and development from before birth through the teen years.” In their article, “Getting Along With Brothers and Sisters,” they stated three main tips on how to keep from fighting with your sibling. They are as follows:

·         “Take a deep breath and think a bit. Try to figure out if you are angry with the person or just frustrated with the situation.”

·         “Remind yourself that you have special talents. Your sister may have won an art contest, but you might be better basketball, or math, or singing.”

·         “Try to congratulate your siblings on their achievements and share their happiness. If you do this for them, they’ll be more likely to do it for you.”

After researching this, I decided to interview some students from my school to see what they do to help get along with their siblings.

I interviewed six students from my school, three girls and three boys. I asked them to share how they get along with their siblings and what they suggest to do and this is what they said:

·         Talk to your sibling about what is bothering you.

·         Try not to start the conflict. If it is avoidable, avoid it.

·         If they are really bothering you, then just ignore them.

·         To avoid conflict, spend time together by watching TV, movies, or by playing a game together.

·         If you’re dealing with a younger sibling, one thing you can so is just give into their needs. If they need help doing something, just try your best to help them to the best of your abilities instead of getting frustrated and complaining.

·         Another thing you can do is if you and your sibling are going through a time where you’re constantly fighting, just give them some space and stay out of their way. Try your best to just not bug them. Chances are, if you give them space, you can both just cool off and eventually the conflict will be forgotten.

·         Bond over things that you both have in common. If there is a certain activity that you both love to do, like skiing and snowboarding, then try to do that activity as much as possible.

·         If things get particularly heated, then just walk away. That ends the conflict right there.

·         And lastly, always have their back. If you have the opportunity to stick up for them, then do it. They’re your family, that’s all that matters in the end

Now personally, living with four older brothers and being the youngest and the only female is quite interesting. Especially because, when I was younger, my brothers decided that I would be the perfect little girl to tease nonstop. They used to get such a kick out of it too! Them and their friends would just sit there and call me silly names and hold things out of my reach and just laugh at me because of how I reacted. Now I’ll be the first to admit that I acted extremely childish when they did this to me. I would cry and scream on top of my lungs and that would only fuel them even more! They had so much fun with it that they would all start chanting “pterodactyl” on the top of their lungs. Then I realized something, if I ignored them, then they stopped. If they didn’t get a reaction out of me, then it wasn’t fun anymore. So throughout the years I’ve come up with certain tips that helped me keep from fighting with my brothers.

·         If they’re teasing you, then just ignore them. It may seem like a hard thing to do at the time but, in the end, it really pays off. If they can’t get a reaction then it’s not fun for them anymore.

·         Talk to them about stuff that you know that they like. Even if there’s something that you like, but they don’t, don’t bring it up. It will take away that chance that you’ll get into an argument.

·         If you’re feeling really ambitious and have some spare time, you could always just bake them some brownies. Everyone loves brownies. (:

·         When all else fails, the best thing to do is to just walk away. If you put distance in between you and them, there is no way that you can end up fighting. It will give you both a chance to cool down and think about the situation more clearly.

So these are just a few tips on how to get along with your siblings. They work well for me and these students so I hope they work well for you too. And always remember one thing: No matter how crazy your siblings drive you, they’re family and they’ll always have your back and be there for you. I know that sometimes my brothers drive me crazy but, at the end of the day, they’re my brothers and I love them to death. They’re always there when I need advice or someone to talk to.

I hope this helps you and I hope you enjoyed! Good luck! (: