Question
Our 13-year-old son teases his eight year old sister to no end. She reacts dramatically to the teasing (he loves getting a rise out of her, so I'm sure her reaction is his reward). She'll scream "Stop it!" when he makes some kind of cut about her or chase him or even cry when it's particularly cruel. We have sent him to his room, told him he is creating a poor relationship with his only sibling, and have separated them both on occasion, when the teasing and the screaming are too much. Sometimes when we punish him, he gets mad at her and refuses to speak to her, which hurts her feelings and makes her less likely to tell us what's going on. We've told our daughter to have no reaction to the teasing, but she can't seem to manage her reactions. She loves her brother and wants a relationship with him. How do we get him to stop? Could one reason be he feels there is a lot of responsibility placed on him (he does have more chores etc.) and this is his way of taking out his hostility? Are we paying too much attention to the "baby"?
