Sibling STRIFE
‘The childhoods we share may set the pattern for adult tensions’
Blood may be thicker than water. But while families do often provide us with the long-lasting support and security that many other relationships don’t, they can also create the most long-lasting hurt.
Sibling relationships in particular can wound us deeply. The childhoods we share, with all those daily sibling irritations, anxieties and rivalries, can set the pattern for adult tensions. And yes, we may love our brothers and sisters, but we know them so well that it’s all too easy to take them for granted.
Plus, even if we want to erase our siblings from our lives as we can do with friends or partners, other family ties and commitments make it almost impossible to break completely. Whether we like them or not, our siblings are not just for Christmas, but for life.
As a relationship counsellor and psychotherapist, I’ve worked with many families where problems between siblings have caused deeply hurtful rifts and upheavals.
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