Stop fighting now!



4 Ways to Know If Sibling Rivalry Has Gone Too Far

Denyse Variano, Family and Consumer Sciences Issue Leader for Cornell Cooperative Extension in Orange County, provides these signs that can indicate sibling rivalry has gone too far:

  1. When fights get physical (although children with limited verbal ability may communicate through physical means and may not intend to harm a sibling)
  2. When words become very hurtful
  3. When one child purposely stays away from another or doesn’t want to be alone with another child 
  4. When a child seems especially quiet or unusually verbal in her complaints about a sibling


Is all sibling rivalry bad?