“Will you two STOP it!”

This is all I find myself saying these days.  I never thought sibling rivalry would start so young.

It is just horrendous some days.  The jealousy, the hitting, the yelling, the crying, the screaming!

I have been told that sibling rivalry occurs more frequently in children who are closer in age…….well my two are only 14.5 months apart, so there you go!

The situation at times is very reminiscent of a swimmer at the beach, off in the distance there is a shark fin in sight and it is getting closer and closer.  The swimmer reacts and starts thrashing about and screaming!

This is what happens here….Miss Z is playing with say, her doll house; Master M comes crawling in from the other room.

*cue the jaws music**

Miss Z catches him out of the corner of her eye, she begins to scream, a tantrum ensues; she jumps around and tries hitting Master M with anything within reach.

All the toys are “hers”, but Master M knows what he wants and will go after it.  He is a tough cookie with a strong grip.   He gives as good as he gets in a game of tug-o-war over a Dora doll.

There always seem to be strong competition for everything; our attention and affection, toys, food, the TV, you name it, it can get quite intense.

It is hard to come up with a solution or to reason with them when they are young and do not seem to understand.

I realise that the older they get the more their rivalry will change, it won’t disappear, just what they are competing for will be different.  In their teenage years there will be fighting over friends, parental approval, compliments, academic and sporting achievements too.  Trying to outdo each other in every way possible.

As my mum used to say to my brother and I when we were younger, and had been fighting and competing against each other ALL day:

“You two will grow up to love and appreciate each other one day!”

We laughed at the time but now I can say ,I guess she was right, Mum’s always are!

How do you remedy this sort of situation in your household?  In particular if your kids started as young as mine.