Conflicts with their brothers and sisters help children learn the problem solving and coping skills they will need to deal with other people throughout their lives. What we are really talking about are opportunities to get along better with other people, she said. They are opportunities to deal with anger, opportunities to deal better with frustration. You will never eradicate it in your family, and that is a good thing. But what we as parents can do is impact the intensity of those exchanges between the children.
Parents can unwittingly be accessories to their children s crimes against each other.
Siblings frequently define their relationship with each other based on how they see their parents relate to their own brothers and sisters, Johnson said. Sibling interchanges also are influenced by parents marital relationship. Stress in the marriage can be played out among the children, Johnson said. A child with a strong bond with his dad often squares off with the sibling who is closer to mom as a way of standing up for his father. Parenting styles can impact sibling relationships as well, Johnson said.