It’s not easy for your first-born child to welcome a new family member. When siblings grow up, they may boldly show their envy through name-calling, arguing, pushing, teasing, or worse, fighting. Don’t let this happen.
Although this is just normal, you can still prevent it from taking these steps in helping your child get used to being a big brother or sister:
1. Inform your kid about your pregnancy. You should be the one to announce the good news, not other people.
2. Involve them in preparing for your childbirth. You can let them pick the homecoming outfit of the baby and so on.
3. Stop comparing them in a different situation. This may cause your child a loss of self-confidence and jealousy to his or her siblings.
4. Do not change your daily routine to your older kid when the baby comes out. They may feel that you do not have time for him or her, and you don’t love them for all we know that most especially baby is sensitive to their emotions.
5. Avoid situations that encourage guilt siblings. The guilt follows doing something, is a lot worse than the guilt of merely feeling.
6. Do not let your children feel that you loved your new baby and you almost spend your time with the new family member of your family. It might be a cause sibling’s rivalry.
7. Do not discipline your baby in front of his or her brother or sister. It avoids bad behavior, which worsens negatively.
8. Explain to your child that they have an important role in your family. If you have an infant, spend also a time for your adult kid.
9. Let your older kid feel that he or she is the hero of your new baby. In that sense, the older kid can realize at their young age the responsibility of being a brother or sister.
10. Spend individual time with each child, in that manner, your children realize that you loved them both and they are feeling special.
11. Teach them to solve their problems by asking what the problem is, at their young age you need to train them to be a responsible person.
12. Let them learn how to have positive ways to get attention from each other. This way they can build a good relationship as siblings. It can lessen the possibility that they would have a sibling’s rivalry.
13. Have some time to plan for family activities. Set a time to have fun together with your family. This kind of activity is very good for your kids as they can have a good experience and if there are times that they had a conflict, it will be easier for them to work it out since they had a strong sibling bonding.
14. Encourage your baby to play well, cooperate, and share with others.
And lastly…
15. Let your child be responsible at their young age by working things out. Be fair, don’t blame and don’t ask who started it when they’re fighting.
There you have it – 15 ways on how to get your kids used to be an older sibling. This is a huge transition for everyone in the family and at the same time, an exciting stage of life.
Hey there, Martha here, a full-time mom of two, currently trying to bring a small impact in everyone’s life whom I can reach through The Queen Momma. I usually write on topics related to parenting, pregnancy and motherhood. Having gone through a few rocky relationships myself, I consider myself somewhat of an “expert” on topics related to dating and relationships.
I formerly worked at Special Needs Network Inc and BrightStar Care of Beverly Hills as a head manager. I have a passion for assisting organizations and individuals in achieving their objectives and have had the opportunity to do so throughout my professional career. At present, writing for The Queen Momma is a great addition to my professional career.
Very informative. Great post!
Thank you, Marienne! Hope this helps. 🙂
these are great tips, this will enhance the relationship between moms and their children
Thanks, Muideen. Well that’s really the objective. 🙂
I don’t have any children, but I thought your post was very informative, especially for new parents! Also, I was on only child, so I didn’t have to share or deal with siblings….however, now that I’m 47, I wish I’d had a brother or sister. Great post!
Oh, I also pretty wonder at times how does an ‘only child’ deal with everything on a daily basis.. like no go-to sister or brother to chat and share experiences with. But I can say that you did have a beautiful childhood after all. You are doing very great, Kristi!
I have a younger sister. I was nice to her and now she behaves like she is a boy. Is it normal? 🙂
Wow! Really? I think that’s still normal though. Perhaps she’s just going through a certain identity process. You’ll just find out. Maybe she wants to talk with you about it. 🙂