Raising Kids without Sibling Rivalry

Raising kids can prove to be the most challenging job that you will ever have in your life. Although every parent absolutely adores their children, sometimes the bickering and sibling rivalry can make a parent feel like they are going nuts.  The constant back and forth yammering between siblings can often find that last nerve the parent has, and tweak it to the point that they can’t take it any longer.  You are not alone in dealing with this.  However, there are ways to eliminate the sibling rivalry in your household.

Mommy, Daddy – Guess What He Did

No household would be complete without the infamous tattletale.  Every person raising kids has at some point had to deal with a tattler.  Tattling creates animosity between siblings, and can turn a household upside down.  The tattling must come to a quick end if you want a peaceful home.

Most parenting classes cover the issue of sibling rivalry.  Experts suggest that the parents sit the child down and have a talk with him.  You’ll need to explain that tattling is not very nice, and that it can hurt other people’s feelings.  It’s also important to let the child know that there are some times that tattling is alright, such as when someone is playing with matches or poking the neighbor’s dog with sticks.  The child must learn the difference between tattling just to get their sibling in trouble, and tattling or “telling” because someone can get hurt.

During this chat, you should also discuss the consequence for tattling in the future. Positive discipline techniques like taking away a favorite toy or losing playtime with friends are great for encouraging good behavior. Soon, you’ll be raising kids who don’t tattle.

Fighting for Attention

The biggest cause of sibling rivalry occurs from trying to get the parent’s attention.  If there is only one parent home all day with two or more children, the kids have to struggle to get the attention that they need or desire.  This can lead to real problems within the family.

Parenting classes can help you deal with this problem.  Naturally you can’t clone yourself, but there are ways to give each child quality time.  Raising kids is demanding, but if you plan special time with each child, there will be less competition for your time.

Let’s say that you have two children, ages three and six. It’s only logical that the three year old  requires much more attention and supervision than the six year old.  This can cause the older child to become jealous.  When the youngest takes his nap, do things that are special with the older child.  You can bake cookies, play cars or dolls, or just watch a movie or read a special story.  These things will make your oldest child feel like they are just as important as the other child – hence, reducing sibling rivalry problems.

Spend some time in inspiring children towards appreciating and valuing their siblings. Motivate your child to understand and realize that he/she has to be protective and caring towards the younger sibling and that the younger child should also value and care for the older one.

Physical Fighting

It is never acceptable to be raising kids who use violence to settle disputes.  Unfortunately, there are times when children will use their hands instead of their words.  This problem requires immediate and positive discipline if you want to be raising kids who will fit into society.

There are parenting classes available that teach positive discipline techniques. It is essential that you learn about positive discipline to stop your children from hitting each other.  You should never hit your child as a punishment, or you will be raising kids who believe violence is acceptable.

Simply taking away toys or activities that the child enjoys should help stop the fighting.  A time-out is a great method of positive discipline.  The child should know what the penalty will be if he hits someone again.  Knowing the punishment often helps curtail bad behavior.

The Wisdom You Need For Raising Kids to Be Active

Over the past half of a century, people have been leading much more sedentary lives than ever.  Unfortunately, the children today are some of the least active in American history.  In the age of two income families, televisions, cell phones and video games have been the ones raising kids.  This has not only caused the highest number of child obesity cases, but has also contributed to the breakdown of child-parent relationships.  If your children are less active than they should be, there are some great ways to get them up and moving their bodies.

Take It Outside

It is really important that while raising kids, you lead by example.  Children tend to emulate their parents’ behaviors.  If all the parent does is sit on the couch and watch TV, the children will do the same.  You must plan some fun activities outdoors to encourage your children to run and play.

Kids of all ages love to play Hide and Seek.  This is a wonderful way to play outside and improve your child-parent relationships too.  In the winter, building a snowman or going sledding as a family activity can be great fun.  A family vacation in the summertime filled with camping, hiking, bird watching and fishing would bring all of you closer together, and help you in raising kids who appreciate what nature has to offer.  Any fun activity that gets you children outside and moving their bodies is a good thing for their overall good health.

Take a Stroll

Family walks are becoming more and more popular.  Years ago, people were always out walking with their families, but this has seemed to stop over the past few decades.  Walking is a great form of exercise, and it also gives you time to talk with your kids.  This is a free activity that opens up the lines of communication and helps to improve child-parent relationships.  Going on family walks will not only benefit your children’s health, but will make you healthier too.

Play In the Park

An outing to the park will encourage your children to run, play and socialize with other children.  You should play an active role while there as well.  You can push your kids on the swings, teach them how to climb on the monkey bars or catch them when they come down the slide.  By playing with your children, you are creating a stronger bond between you and them.  Strong child-parent relationships are essential while raising kids, and will create a never-ending bond for life.

Signup for Sports

Sports are a great way to get normally sedentary children up and moving.  There are many things that a child can learn from playing sports.  Kids can learn to be team players and to cooperate with others.  They can also learn that exercise will make them stronger, faster and healthier.  Sports can also help to improve child-parent relationships, providing the parents play an active role in the children’s sporting activities.

Unconventional Sports

There are children who simply do not take to team sports such as soccer, football, softball or basketball.  It’s all right to be raising kids who just don’t like those types of sports.  You should not push them into it, as this could severely damage child-parent relationships.  There are other great options that your kids might enjoy.  Baton twirling, karate, dance or gymnastics might be unconventional sports that your kids will enjoy.  Your children will make new friends, and you will meet other people raising kids that prefer unconventional sports as opposed to more widely played sporting activities.

Raising Kids That Don’t Talk Back

One of the biggest pet peeves that parents who are raising kids have is talking back. Believe it or not, there are children out there that do not talk back to their parents or anyone else, for that matter. These children also tend to do very well in school because they are respectful to their teachers as well. Raising kids to be respectful is important.

In The Beginning There Were Rules

Raising kids is the most difficult job you will ever have in your life. Teaching your children to be polite and respect authority makes a parent’s job twice as hard. Don’t be discouraged. Raising kids that don’t talk back is not an impossible feat. With good parenting and effective child discipline, you’ll have a child that respects what you have to say.

Good parenting skills are necessary to achieve your goal. Be sure that both you and your spouse are consistent in the way that you parent your child. The rules of the family should also be enforced by both parents. If one parent allows the child to jump on the furniture and the other doesn’t, the child is getting mixed signals about his behavior.

Everyone has rules that they must follow. Rules and boundaries are essential for children as they help to teach respect and discipline. Every rule should be posted, even if the child is too young to read. Number the rules as children learn to recognize numbers before letters. The numbers can help them to remember the rules. Do not talk back should be rule number one.

Good Parenting Means Good Children

Good parenting skills are very important when raising kids. Parents that scream at their children or hit them merely are teaching their children that this is an appropriate behavior. Showing your child how to behave through your actions and the actions of your spouse is the best way to ensure that you are raising kids to learn appropriate behavior.

You must also learn to use your good parenting skills any time that you need to make a behavioral correction with child discipline. When you need to discipline your child, you’ll need to keep in mind that the punishment fits the crime. Never be cruel or vindictive when punishing your child.

It’s best to use positive child discipline to coerce the child into behaving appropriately. Do not bribe him with treats or toys to get him to behave. When your child breaks the house rules, you should take immediate action to stop the behavior. The child should be punished by taking away a toy or television time. Never hit your child. He will only learn that violence is acceptable.

Eliminate the Back Talk

Raising kids to be respectful can help to eliminate back talk. A respectful child understands the rules and boundaries that have been set for him. You can have obedient children that don’t talk back if you teach respect while raising kids.

You’ll need to sit down with your spouse and decide on an appropriate punishment for back talk.  When raising kids, they need to know the penalties before they do the crime. This is an incentive for good behavior as no child wants to lose a toy or time away from his games or the television.

In the event that your child does talk back, simply take away the item or privilege that was previously discussed. Raising kids isn’t easy and it may hurt you to deprive him of that toy or privilege but it is for his own good. Some children will carry on once the privilege or toy has been taken away. Should this happen, you will need to take away something else as well.

Before taking away the second toy or privilege, give a warning to let your child know that this could happen. If he continues, remove the item. Eventually, your good parenting skills and the positive child discipline you use while raising kids will result in a well-behaved child that doesn’t talk back.