How can you reduce sibling rivalry? Sibling rivalry by definition consists of jealousy. Can you control someone else’s jealousy? As a parent, it is your job to see that your children get along with each other. If they can’t get along in front of you, how are they going to get along with
other people when you are not around?

To minimize sibling rivalry from the beginning tell the oldest when you are pregnant. Let him or her feel her brother or sister kick in your tummy. If the oldest is part of the baby’s arrival he or she won’t feel like they are competing for mommy’s attention.

Let the older child help you with baby. If everything is equal and you spend time with the other children while you are taking care of siblings, everyone will feel loved and part of a family without competition and rivalry.

The best way to reduce sibling rivalry is to make everything equal. This is a harder task than what it sounds. If you were to cut a sandwich exactly in half and give it to your children, one will complain they got a smaller piece, thus you like the other child better.

If you have to make something equal, the best way is to tell the children to do it. One will divide it up and the other will pick which one they want. You have nothing to do with it and it is up to them to make everything equal.

To reduce sibling rivalry you don’t want to compare your children. Comparing your children will make them resent each other and you. Each child is an individual and he or she needs to be treated as such. Never compare your child to anyone.

Spend time with each of your children alone. Each child needs to feel special. You need to devote time to each one so they know you love him or her. Try to spend the same time with each child. If you spend an hour with one, spend an hour with the other one. Let each child know when you are going to spend time with each of them. That way there will not be any “crowing”.

If you have a babysitter, you may want to make his or her job easier by leaving a list of activities your children will enjoy. No one knows your children like you do and both your children and the babysitter may appreciate the guidance.

Every parent is different. Some families let their children do what other parents would never imagine a child doing. Babysitters sometimes let children do what parents do not let kids do, just because the babysitter has no
guidelines.

Give your babysitter guidelines. Your babysitter will not have to guess what the children can do and your children will be less likely to “try” the babysitter. Make sure your children know you left the babysitter an approved activity sheet. Your children will be less likely to whine when the babysitter says “no” to something the children know they are not supposed to be doing anyway.

Your babysitter might have some things she or he is going to try with your kids. If you thoroughly trust your babysitter’s judgment, you can leave a place on your list for “babysitter approved activities”. Most babysitters will stick to the list so they do not get fired unless they are comfortable with you and your family.

Here are some ideas for your list of activities with the babysitter.

Babysitter activity list:

1. Board Games – List the games your children like to play and where they are located.

2. Puzzles – If your kids have puzzles they like to put together you may want to list them and where they can be found in your house.

3. Bubbles – If your children like to blow or chase bubbles write that on your list as well. Tell the babysitter where she can find the bubbles.

4. Ball – If you let your children play ball in the house write it down. You can write ball and next write inside or outside and where the ball is.

5. Games – List games your children would like to play like hide-n-seek, Simon says, or red light green light.

6. Out doors or indoors – Let your sitter know if the children can play outside or not and when they must come in to go to bed.

7. Music – What songs your child likes and where the music is in the house.

Anyone who has children will tell you that they one thing people forgot to tell them was exactly how expensive babies can be. The worse part about all of the money that you have to put out to buy the things that the baby needs for its first year is how very little use they get from the
items before they out grow them. This leaves many parents with slightly used baby items that they now have nothing to do with. There is a now a great option for parents whose babies have out grown their stuff. They can now make money from old baby items. It is easy to do and will put some money in your pocket to buy the next set of essential items for your growing little one.

Step One

Sort through all of the old baby items that your child no longer uses to see what you will be able to use to make money. You will want to throw away any items that are broken and ones that are not really reusable by another parent. There are many old baby items that you can sort through from clothes to toys to find items to use to make money with. Anything that your baby no longer uses is fair game to help you to make money with.

Step Two

Locate a mom’s consignment sale in your area. Many churches and mother’s groups hold semi annual consignment sales to help mothers to get the items that they need for their little ones as well as to make money from old baby items. You can start by doing a search for mother’s groups in your area to find out about the when the consignment sales are in your area, how to sign up for them, and the rules of each sale. There may be a few in your area to choose from so you can take part in as many as you want to make money from your old baby items.

Step Three

Clean and disinfect all of the old baby items that you are planning to sell at the consignment sale. Clean items that look like they have been barely used will sell fast and bring in more money then items that were not properly cleaned before heading to the consignment sale. A little elbow grease now can pay off in more money at the sale.

Are babysitting costs blowing a hole in your budget or are you finding it nearly impossible to line up a reliable baby sitter for your children? If so, why not consider setting up a babysitting exchange with other parents to share babysitting duties.

There are numerous benefits to setting up a babysitting exchange, including the following
two.

First, it could save you a lot of money. If you pay $10 an hour or more for a babysitter for five hours each week, that’s $2,600 or more each year. Second, you will be able to relax and enjoy some quality time with your spouse, significant other or yourself, knowing that your kids are in the hands of responsible parents with plenty of experience entertaining and caring for children.

Here are six tips for setting up a babysitting exchange.

1. Start by finding two or three other parents who are interested in participating in an exchange. Ideally parents should have children in about the same age ranges, although that is not essential. You probably don’t want too many parents in the exchange, since it could result in too many children for each babysitting parent to handle. On the other hand, having some extras can give you more flexibility when, inevitably, someone can’t take their turn babysitting.

2. Once you have your babysitting exchange members, set up a meeting to decide on the structure of the exchange.

3. At the meeting, start by determining a babysitting cycle. For example, you could agree that the exchange will provide babysitting services for five hours every Saturday night from seven to midnight. In that event, if you have four sets of parents in your exchange, each would babysit once every four weeks and would have three free Saturday nights.

4. Decide on any guidelines such as where the babysitting will occur (probably at the home of the babysitter) and what each parent should provide for their child (perhaps snacks, pajamas, and a favorite toy).

5. Talk about what will be done if a parent cannot babysit when it is her turn and if a parent is late picking up her child.