Question
Hi ☺my question is about sibling conflict between my thirteen-year-old daughter and five-year-old son. They are constantly fighting! And they are basically just rude and disrespectful towards each other so much of the time. I have read the articles that say to let them work it out, but the hard part for me is the age gap between them. I feel frustrated when my 13 year old gets rude to my five year old because I feel like she should know better and she should teach him better. And at the same time he gets extremely ugly in his behavior towards her, which also frustrates me because he's not like that with other people. I feel like he's still learning and she should already know not to say or do certain things to a little kid. And the truth is she does. She is great with everybody else's kids. She's super sweet and patient and loving. But to her brother, she's not at all. She's quick to get angry with him, and super dramatic about everything that he does. And he will just go up and do certain things to her like grab something from her, and he's even lied to get her in trouble. Like I said, I know the articles say that I need to let them work it out, but there just seems to be so much tension between them and the age difference is what makes it really hard for me to know what to do. How do you suggest handling conflict of all types between children who are so far apart in age and development? A teenager and a preschool age child are so far apart!! Thank u ☺
