Siblings
Everyone knows that mothers have a powerful influence on their
children. Sometime in the 1970s science discovered that fathers are
important, too. The 1990s are shaping up as the time we figured out that
kids' development is deeply influenced by their brothers and sisters, and
that siblings may be the source of most individual differences in
development.
The reason why kids from the same family can grow up to be so
different, says Judy Dunn, Ph.D., is that they are far more socially
sensitive than we've given them credit for. From "a remarkably early
age," at least the end of their first year, she reports in Current
Directions (Vol. 1, No. 1), they monitor the affection, attention, and
discipline their parents lavish on their sibs, and the warmth and pride
they show in them. Then they make comparisons to themselves.
It's these experiences of differential treatment that shape kids,
and turn family life into a daily drama for them. Those who get less
maternal attention than their sibs become more worried, anxious, or
depressed than other kids. And in families with greater differential
parental treatment, there's more hostility and conflict between the
kids.
It's in a child's best interest to understand family members and
the social rules of the shared family world, says Dunn. In her portrait
of the home as a hotbed of emotional comparisons, "from 18 months on
children understand how to hurt, comfort, and exacerbate their siblings'
pain," among other things. What makes her portrait so true-to-life is
that it comes from direct observations of kids with their
families.
Kids naturally differ in their ability to understand the causes and
consequences of emotions and to sense what others are thinking. But those
with the shrewdest social sense are the ones who see mom paying attention
and responding to their sibs.
They even anticipate when a sibling will get attention --and make
attempts to draw attention to themselves. "It takes a lot of skill to
do," says Dunn. In daily drama of life, each kid is looking for a
starring role.
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