sibling rivalry

Behavior Management System That Truly Works

Our family is blessed with three young girls who are a pleasure to be around and raise. My husband and I are truly blessed. As a family, we have fun together, we laugh together, and we enjoy spending time together. That being said, we also have three girls who can get on each others nerves. When summer hit for our oldest, it was evident that we needed a system set into place to make the transition into a new “norm” a bit easier and consistent when it came to everyone getting along. Being a former teacher, I am well aware that routines and consistency are key to success. Sure I could “wing it,” but why not set the girls up for success this summer.

By Mary Bockert, ago

Raising Three Girls to Love One Another

Sibling rivalry…UGH!

It amazes me how much I was wrong. Wrong about how parenting really went, wrong about how simple I believed parenting to be, wrong that I thought our girls would just “get along” without my husband and I intervening….LOTS of wrongs to try to make RIGHT with trial and error. To this day, we are still learning and adapting to a new way of life with 3 girls. Our oldest two are so different…complete opposites. Honestly, I LOVE the fact that they are different from one another and have different interests. That being said, I was unaware of how difficult it would be to mesh the two personalities together and have them get along. For some reason I assumed that the two lovely ladies would magically understand each others differences, love one another and want to spend every waking moment together…BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Being naive as a parent can be one the most beautiful things or, in my case, one of the most detrimental things.

By Mary Bockert, ago

Sibling Rivalry

The excitement when I found out our youngest was a girl and would be the little sister to our sweet 2.5 year old daughter was just overwhelming. I was excited for them to be the best of friends like my sister and I. They would play dolls together, have sweet tea parties, run around together, etc. Life would be grand as sisters.

Then reality set in about 12 months in. Our girls are complete opposites and getting them to play together is like oil and water. NOT the vision I had in my mind the day our second was born. In fact, it has been a struggle to teach them how to get along and understand each others’ differences since pretty much day one.

By Mary Bockert, ago