How to Handle Sibling Rivalry

THE CORLEONE FAMILY

*(Insert Christine and/or Kelly for Michael Corleone and Michael Trum for Fredo)*

Michael Corleone: "I've always taken care of you, Fredo."

Fredo Corleone: "Taken care of me! …Send Fredo off to do this! Send Fredo off to do that! Let Fredo take care of some Mickey Mouse nightclub somewhere! Send Fredo to pick somebody up at the airport! … I was stepped over."

Michael Corleone: "That's the way Pop wanted it."

Fredo Corleone: "It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things. I'm smart, not like everybody says. Not dumb. I'm smart, and I want respect!"

Michael Corleone: "Fredo, you're my ...brother, and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever."

Michael Corleone: “Fredo, you're nothing to me now. You're not a brother, you're not a friend. I don't want to know you or what you do. I don't want to see you at the hotels, I don't want you near my house. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance, so I won't be there. You understand?”

~ Adapted from The Godfather II, by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo

THE TRUM FAMILY

*(Insert Christine, Kelly and Michael for the "siblings")*

Laurie Kramer, a professsor of family studies at Illinois University, who wrote a report for the journal New Directions For Child And Adolescent Development, says “We know that having a positive relationship with siblings is related to a whole host of better outcomes for teenagers and adults.”

Kramer, said: “Siblings are better role models of the more informal behaviours that constitute the bulk of a child's everyday experiences,” Kramer said.

Professor Kramer said other research had shown that if children start off their relationship with a sibling on a positive note, 'it's more likely to continue positively over time'.

She said it did not matter if the siblings were of a similar age or spaced years apart, or of different sex. What was important was that parents encouraged siblings to 'develop a relationship where there is mutual respect, co-operation and the ability to manage problems'.

**Michael, don't get all warm and fuzzy on me. Fredo now sleeps with the fishes. I'd set the alarm at night. - JMS**