What if your child says they want a better sister?

These statements can be hard to hear but we should process it and respond carefully. All sorts of things can bring on statements like this….

What are we to do as parents?

• Listen carefully
• Express some understanding how they must feel.
• First off if a child brings this to your attention they have probably thought about what they are saying.
• Get them to calm down so they can hear you. Taking a few deep breaths seems to get most kids to get a hold of their emotions. It’s something you would need to introduce early in their childhood. Older kids/teens may think it’s silly coming from a parent who has never used these methods. Controlling any involuntary processes in voluntary like breathing and blinking while counting the repetitions should do the trick.
• Then you can logically describe what you witness during the sibling interaction.
• Talking about emotions as something they are in control of as well as manageable.
• Let them know that the best way to get a better sister is to be a better brother. Most times if not all, the best we can do in life is to change ourselves and how we respond to our environment and those in it by changing our portion of the interaction.
• Couple this with the expectations you have for them, address the sibling in question and the values you as a family hold in regard to siblings and families.

For some this may not seem as a logical approach but there are not many other approaches that would not create animosity in their relationship.

Just one approach verses others. Thank you for reading.

#In order to have something you’ve never had, you to become someone you’ve never been! (Les Brown)

#Relationships are important.

#Who are you becoming!