Gen X Parents: Teach Sibs to Act As a Team to Avoid Siblings Rivalry

Siblings, as children, benefit from learning how to act as a team . As they get older, they may reconstitute their team many times-for rituals, for rites of passage, and for taking care of aging parents, which will be you if you are a baby boomer.
If you have young kids teach them how to act as a team now
when they are young. If nothing else, they'll learn the basics of social relationships, such as who will be the leader and the followers and whether the leader treats followers fairly.
Team spirit among siblings is a critical tool, the value of which was evident among Depression era siblings. Because of the crushing economic woes of the 1930s, siblings grew up tutored by their parents in team spirit and loyalty to each other. Their parents' 1930s emphasis on one for all and all for one lasted a lifetime. Creating a team spirit among siblings is just as important now. Working together teaches siblings to share, to delegate responsibility, and to really appreciate each other. What's more, learning to work as a team cuts down on sibling rivalry and squabbles and builds a deep bond that the siblings carry with them for a lifetime.
Gayanne and Amos, Gen X parents with a new blended family, were certainly in need of team spirit. New stepbrothers Randy and Roger were miserably sharing a carved-up room. Roger and Vera, Randy's new stepsiblings, were skirmishing so much that Roger was injured. Clearly, this group needed a way to act as a cohesive unit with team strength. After going to her family counselor, Gayanne solved the problem. She had her dad, Jack, help build a new room for stepbrother Randy and got Vera into counseling. The family also started regular family meetings, using the lure of take out dinner from In and Out burgers, to entice the kids to come.
Gayanne's father Jack and her mother, Janet, are divorced. Nevertheless, these two grandparents banded together again after decades of separation to help this family achieve family cohesiveness. They modeled their own team spirit it to their children and grandchildren.
Among other things, Janet and Jack put together the family garage sale, giving each child a role and allowing the kids to help plan the sale as well as reap the financial rewards from some of their own items. They also arranged roles for Gayanne and Amos. In this way, Janet and Jack evoked the same team spirit they displayed in spite of their divorce. Organizing and running a garage sale together gave these warring siblings, who were banded together not by choice but by remarriage, an opportunity to learn to work together as a team.
You can do the same. Try to evoke team spirit with your kids by planning events or activities that require teamwork like a Memorial Day Barbeque where they can invite friends, a garage sale where they all get to sell their own items and get the money for themselves, or a graduation party for a fellow sibling. One child could do an e-vite, another help plan food and another sib could put together a guest list with Mom or Dad's help. Or plan a camping trip.
Make an effort to help your children and step children develop team spirit. It will pay huge dividends years later.