Question
I have boy/girl twins who are 11 and boy/girl/boy triplets who are 4. The twins have become increasingly resentful of the triplets as our whole world changed so much when they were born, they took so much of our parental time away from them, our budget is tighter so we aren't able to do all the things we used to do, like vacations, and the triplets sometimes get into the twins' things and break them, etc...On occasion, the twins are kind and play and talk nicely to the twins but more often, especially with the girl twin, they speak unkindly, harshly, like to tattle on and bring up faults of the triplets. The boy twins says things like, "I wish the triplets had never been born." The triplets are now so used to the twins' behavior to them that they are in the habit often of being unkind toward the twins first although the triplets get along with each other well. The dinner table is the worst with conflict. We only have 2 bedrooms (twins in one and triplets in another right now although within the next year we hope to move all the same sex siblings together if we can get them to start getting along and the little ones to learn how to treat the older ones' things nicely) so we can't easily implement the consequence of "being sent to their rooms". Any advice on how to promote harmony between the older and younger children?
