Lesson Plan: The Value of Sibling Rivalry
II. While Reading Activities
Word Inference
- absurd |əbˈsərdəbˈzərd| adjective wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate: the allegations are patently absurd | so you think I’m a spy? How absurd!
- encourage |inˈkərij| verb [with object] give support, confidence, or hope to (someone): we were encouraged by the success of this venture | (as adjective encouraged) : I feel much encouraged.
- brawl |brôl| noun a rough or noisy fight or quarrel.
- dastardly |ˈdastərdlē| adjective dated, humorous wicked and cruel: pirates and their dastardly deeds.
- perspective |pərˈspektiv| noun a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view: most guidebook history is written from the editor’s perspective.• true understanding of the relative importance of things; a sense of proportion: we must keep a sense of perspective about what he’s done.
- sibling |ˈsibliNG| noun each of two or more children or offspring having one or both parents in common; a brother or sister.
- rivalry |ˈrīvəlrē| noun (plural rivalries) competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field: commercial rivalry | intercity rivalries.
- mitigate |ˈmidəˌɡāt| verb [with object] make less severe, serious, or painful: he wanted to mitigate misery in the world.
- praise |prāz| verb [with object] express warm approval or admiration of: we can’t praise Chris enough—he did a brilliant job.
- twitchy |ˈtwiCHē| adjective (twitchier, twitchiest) informal nervous; anxious: she felt twitchy about the man hovering in the background.
Grammar Focus: Word -Recognition
Try to find moments where everyone can come together. Your kids’ temperaments and personalities may be similar, or they may not. They may both love dance, or one loves dance and the other just wants to play chess. One might be rigid, and the other is a free spirit.
Identify The Speakers
Jeanine Vivona, a professor of psychology at the College of New Jersey who has studied sibling rivalry.
“Competition with siblings is just a fact of life. And we, as people with siblings and people with children, can just try to manage it as best we can.”
Mark Ethan Feinberg, a research professor of health and human development at Pennsylvania State University.
“Conflict does decrease into adolescence; it sort of levels off,”
“Early and middle childhood are particularly difficult times for sibling aggression
Sarah Walters, an associate professor of demography at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“Hundreds of years ago, when child mortality was much higher, children under 5 with close-in-age siblings were more likely to die.”
Sally Beville Hunter, a clinical associate professor in child and family studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
“Figure out what sets them off. Pay attention to what tends to happen before conflict breaks out,”
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