Stepsisters to Soul Sisters – Breaking Stereotypes
When parents get married, their children not only have to accept new parents but also new siblings. This seems to be the biggest challenge because there is a lot of friction and pre-conceived hatred between the children on both sides. Since there is no genetic link between the children, they find all the more dissimilarities and reasons to fight or stay away from each other. Read on to figure out how to bridge the gap between stepsisters.
Mostly, if stepsisters belong to the same age group, they may go to the same school, have the same kind of lifestyle or even the same set of friends. But all this is not enough to keep them bonded well in a close-knit family.
In fact, they probably resent being together and sharing common stuff. It might not be a great idea to make them share things from the first day on, but there are lot of small things that you can practice to make sure they bond well.
How to Help them become Soul Sisters
Here are a few things you can do to break the stereotype and help them become soul sisters:
1. Be Unbiased
As a parent you need to be unbiased. Unless and until both parents have a similar approach, the sisters will not be able to bond. You have to treat them both equally; neither of your children should feel left out, as this directly leads to hampering their relationship.
2. Consider Their Ages
If your children are toddlers or primary school goers, helping them bond will not be as difficult as it may be in the case of teens and preteens. Either ways, you will have to keep into account their age and help the elder one take care of the younger one.
3. Prepare Them in Advance
It will be a great idea to prepare your child in advance just like pregnant moms do, so that mentally your child gets ready to accept a new sibling into her life. If possible, try to make them meet a few times before they start living in the same house.
4. Build Perspective
You will have to develop similar perspectives in both your daughters to avoid unnecessary fights and rifts between them. You might have to compromise, but make sure your daughters build a lifetime bond.
5. Prevent Bullying
Bullying is one thing that you need to make sure doesn’t happen because it comes naturally to the older one, and being stepsisters, they might indulge in power fights. The older one will always try to bully the younger one.
6. Teaching Them to Share
Giving them one bed room would be a good idea. Make sure they both have separate distinct areas so that they don’t disturb each other, but at the same time, learn to share a single room. It all starts with a room and they will eventually learn to discuss and share their deepest secrets.
Stepsisters can become soul sisters if their parenting is done right. Not only this, but you should also encourage more of activities that they can do together to make them best friends. You need to bring in the love and make them soul sisters for life.