Sibling rivalry is normal and happens in most households. Brothers and sisters compete for their parents' attention and love. But in some cases the apparently harmless competition between siblings becomes bullying. This could result in severe long-term depression. A study conducted by researchers from the Universities of Oxford, Warwick and Bristol and University College London revealed that kids bullied by their siblings were twice as likely to experience depression, self-harm and anxiety as adults.
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Researchers asked seven thousand 12-year-olds whether they felt bullied by their siblings back in 2003-2004. They explained that bullying meant mental and physical violence and teasing that made them feel bad about themselves. The researchers collected the data six years later when the kids were 18 years old to assess their mental health. Most of them experienced clinical depression, anxiety and engaged in self-harm.
Bullying is a hot topic right now because we have finally understood how serious it is. Many children have lost their lives in an acts of desperation when they felt emotionally alone and trapped by their aggressors. More states in the U.S. have passed anti-bullying laws to eliminate the dangerous conduct from the classroom and the workplace, but what about our homes? The question this study answered is that bullying is often experienced at home among siblings and parents often overlook that behavior because fighting and teasing among siblings is supposed to be normal.
As parents, we need to be careful of how far we let our children tease and offend each other because that behavior goes beyond child play. We need to make sure we empower them and let each one of them know that they are unique and special in their own right. Competition among siblings shouldn't be encouraged because some of them don't know how to take it. There is always one that is emotionally stronger than the other and often takes advantage of the situation. As we can see, the emotional scars from allowing our kids to tease each other could be life-threatening. As parents, we need to reinforce unconditional love and support between our children because if one hurts, the whole family hurts.
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