As children are growing up, there are bound to be some little misunderstanding among them, in this article, Paida Mpaso, compiles a few pointers from www.kidshealth.com on how best siblings, either step or biological, can get along.
If you have brothers and sisters, you will usually have someone closer to you, who has shared memories with you. Sometimes there is a problem of getting along- sharing a home, parents and a room etc. Brothers and sisters can learn a lot about getting on with other people from learning to live together at home!
There are three main skills that you need to learn in order to have a fairly peaceful time together. These are communication, respect and negotiation.
Communication
This means that you talk to each other. It also means that you listen to each other.
Here are some ways to have good communication in your family (you might have to ask mum and dad to help you get some of these started).
Respect
Make a rule that if one person is talking, others are listening. Make sure everyone has a turn to talk. Use family meetings to talk about things that affect everyone. Make a rule that nobody shouts.
Make sure that school notices, sports notices, homework and invitations are all put onto a family calendar so that everyone knows what is happening and when.
Write notes to each other, like a message board, and always put them in the same place so that everyone always looks there when they come home.
Negotiation
Always ask if you want to borrow something, watch a program on TV, record something or have a friend over. If you feel upset about something, talk to the person who has upset you and see if you can sort it out in a friendly manner.
Set up a chore chart so that everyone has some chores to do, even small people can do something to help.
