Sibling Revelry

Five ways to keep the peace among your kids.

by Laura Flynn McCarthy

Parents dream of raising children who not only get along as they're growing up, but will also become lifelong friends. When one of your children has ADD, however, forging those lasting bonds can be tricky.

Here are five ways to keep the peace among your kids.

• Don't set up one child as the "perfect" child and the other as the "problem" child. Emphasize that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Ask your children to pay at least one sincere compliment to each other every day.

• Teach your children the value of a close-knit family. You're there to help each other - and to stick up for each other when necessary.

• Encourage your children to air their grievances, but do not allow name-calling. Kids should respect each other's feelings while expressing their own.

• Promote cooperative, rather than competitive, activities - crafts, building sand castles, doing jigsaw puzzles, and so on.

• Make sure each child has his own "space" where he can go to blow off steam.

This article comes from the August/September 2006 issue of ADDitude.

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