Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too Paperback – April 9, 2012

Our daughters are now in their 30s. When they were young, they rarely fought. They grew up as best friends and they remain best friends. For all of this, I credit the book. I have purchased it as a gift for couples expecting their second or third baby and they have been grateful.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I feel like it gives actionable tips to help shape your children's relationship with one another. Here's to having sisters who grow up together as friends and teammates against the world!

I HIGHLY recommend this book if your kids are anywhere near mine and constantly bickering and fighting. I read this book I'm just a couple of days. It has a lot of great tips that are easy to implement. I've already started using some of the suggestions, and it has amazed me how it's actually worked to diffuse situations. After I finished, I went through it again to re-read all of the things I highlighted just to refresh myself. I wish I had read this years ago when my kids were little.

If parenting books were to be solely judged on their practicality, Siblings Without Rivalry would rate well. The book delves into the issues of children that do not get along; from simple arguments to escalated physical conflicts.The presentation of the material revolves around stories straight out of a parenting classroom. With the vast number of issues and viewpoints coming from a multitude of parents, this style offers a wide range of advice to encompass many areas. The book also contains a number of illustrations showing children responding to good and bad methods. I'd venture to say if you only merely read the illustrations, these messages conveyed alone will give you ample insight to strengthen your parenting skills.The book is a reactive book, based on the notion that problems already exist. If you are seeking a book on merely promoting a positive atmosphere, this will not be what you are looking for. However, if you have children who do not get along as well as you would like, or perhaps you would at least like to see learn what parental mistakes might promote more difficulty, this book will prove to be well worth your time.

I am so thankful for this book. I consider myself a "good" parent, but after reading this book, I see so many changes that I am going to make in my parenting style! I am guilty of too much praising with my older son. Because he has behavioral issues, I am constantly looking to praise the good things that he does. Now I realize that it would be more beneficial for both he and his younger brother if I helped them feel pride in themselves and not get there kudos from me. I actually knew that from psych, but I didn't know how to go about it. That's what this book does - it gives really clear, easy to understand examples on what to say. Most of us have good intentions - and this book helps make them a reality. I love the familiar-voice writing style and the "group therapy" feel to it. It makes you feel like you are one of the parents in this book. The stories they share make me feel like they are watching me and my kids! I also liked how it said to allow angry feelings. I didn't grow up like that - and it really opened my eyes. Fabulous book!

This was an eye-opener. I gave me insight into my family dynamics as a sibling and a daughter and especially as a newer parent. This book will help me to prevent some of the painful mistakes that many parents make unknowingly.

I found this book to be full of good ideas -- ideas that I look forward to using without feeling guilty or like I've been doing a terrible job for years. One of the best things about the approach in this series of books is that the approach is compassionate to parents as well to children. The goal is to create a comfortable household and supportive relationships for everyone, so the focus is not on parents changing themselves or sacrificing for their children, but rather on meeting everyone's needs as much as possible. Makes me think the 70s and 80s were a much more enlightened time than we realize!That said, this book has a more narrative approach than 'How to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk.' You will find the same delightfully retro cartoons, but there are fewer lists of skills and more personal perspectives. This is no a downside, just a different way of approaching parenting skills.

This book reads like a novel. I literally could not put it down, staying up way past my bed time and paying the price the next day. It describes a multi-week workshop that the author held. Each week there are stories from the parents, ideas from the lecturer, questions, problems, hearts being poured out, family stories, including the tales of the adults (now parents) who survived difficult sibling situations. You get to know some of the people in the workshop, and you live through the ups and downs of applying workshop ideas to their families. You want things to end well and you wait with abated breath for what happens next.On top of that, the ideas are eye-opening, life-changing and at the same time so obvious! Like, how could I fail to see that?!Never have I encountered such an excellent read in parenting books, nor, come to think of it, any non-fiction that comes to mind. Just don't start reading it at night! You could be a very cranky mommy in the morning!