My elder one is always bullying his sister, how can I improve the situation?

I have 2 boys and the older one does at times bully his younger brother. And sometimes, the younger one does it to his bro too! Here are some ways we as parents can help the situation: 1) Hold kids responsible for their behaviour. Don’t let them justify being aggressive to a sibling. Set limits on what is right and wrong. 2) Referee arguments that get out of hand. Teach your kids to solve conflict without becoming aggressive. Let them work problems out without you, but step in when they cross the line. 3) Identify feelings of jealousy and envy, but teach your kids how to handle those feelings. Get at what is behind those feelings. 4) Reinforce the idea that we are family and take care of each other. You have to model this on the parent level as well. 5) Fill your home with love and nurturing, praising often and tangibly showing love by spending time with your kids. A secure and safe environment goes a long way to preventing bullying.

Sibling rivalry is not to be shrugged off for a petty fight between your kids. It could lead to serious repercussions. In fact, a new study from the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center, has found that sibling bullying has possible negative impacts for both the victim and bully. In such a scenario, parents can adopt the following ways: - Teach your child conflict skills. They must be told what happens to the victim when he/she is bullied. Similarly they must be taught what happens to the bully when he/she bullies somebody. - As your child gets older, you can teach them how to walk away from conflict and compromise. You must be firm but kind. - Assuming that this 'situation' would one day get resolved on its own is not reasonable. You must act and interfere in the fight and resolve the underlying problem that is creating the elder sibling to bully the younger child.

Here are two articles which I found with great suggestions on how to handle sibling bullying. http://www.stompoutbullying.org/index.php/news/sibling-bullying-damaging/ http://nobullying.com/sibling-bullying/ The few suggestions which I thought would be good to consider are: - treating both your children as fairly and as equally as possible (to help minimize jealousy) - holding your son responsible for his actions -getting your son to learn to empathize. Ask him to consider how he thinks he will feel if he is in your daughter's shoes - reinforcing positive behaviour. Despite the bullying, there are instances where your son will be showing affection for his little sister. Reinforce those behaviour by highlighting and praising him for doing so - talk to your son and find out what is the underlying issue that has brought on the bullying behaviour towards his sister

Is there a reason you could think of why your son is bullying your daughter? Kids are simple little creatures and are generally easy to solve if you can get to the root of the problem i.e. jealousy, envy, lack of attention, etc. I have a 7 year old daughter and a 7 months old son, and I often get my daughter involve with her brother as often as possible. Also, I enforced a habit to kiss her brother goodbye/hello whenever she leaves home for school or comes back from school. Also, if I buy say for example a set of outfit for my son, I have to remember to get an outfit for my daughter too so she wouldn't feel forgotten or replaced. Sometimes I bring her out for mummy-daughter dates to catch up with her and these are the times I noticed that she would open up to me a little more and find out if there is anything bothering her.

Hi, may I ask what your kids ages are? If you elder child is older than 5 years old, his understanding level will be enough to know that his actions are wrong. It is best to make your child feel empathic by explaining why he shouldn't bully his sister.Tell him that if he hits his sister it'll hurt her. He might be struggling to communicate with his sibling and when she doesn't talk or communicate back with him, he must be feeling frustrated. It is however best to always keep an eye on the two kids.

When bullying starts from home, do not be surprise if there are more bullying stories out there when he grown up. I think you should identify why the bullying starts. Is it jealousy or what? Then set the boundaries and punishment. It doesn't has to be traumatized but it should be good enough to tell the elder that what he did is wrong.