Sibling Rivalry Essay

because of miscommunication, jealousy, and annoyance between the siblings. These types of disasters typically resolve quickly, but not always. A sibling relationship is one of the longest relationships in a person’s life and a person will spend most of their childhood with their sibling. According to Heather Canary and Daniel Canary in Family Conflict, “sibling relationships represent a unique type of peer relationship in that they are more obligatory than friends . . . [to] last longer” (113). When a child spends that much time with another child, rivalry will arise especially if there is a large age gap. Age gaps raise question to who is in power, typically older children believe they are in power. Rivalries between children who have a

The story of Cain and Abel in the bible shows how jealous an older sibling can become over a younger sibling’s success. When Abel, the younger brother, is selected as the chosen one to be offered, Cain, the older brother, became so “humiliate[ed] until envy overc[a]me him and he destroy[ed] his brother” (Stein 168). Siblings like Cain and Abel who are close in age and are the same gender typically have the biggest problems with sibling rivalry especially since they are boys. Boys are known to be more aggressive and more competitive developing jealousy towards other siblings. When children are close in age, power becomes an issue that children argue over causing frequent confrontation that could even result to physical violence. According to Dan Forsyth in his article, “Sibling Rivalry, Aesthetic Sensibility, and Social Structure in Genesis”, birth order was always a major reason for sibling rivalry. In these patriarchal legends first-born sons always prevailed, which created jealousy between the two siblings (477). Sibling rivalry is not a new concept, but has even been around forever and will continue to be experienced. Human beings will always compete against one another especially for