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"Please help settle an argument with my husband. He says sibling fights are a sign that we&amp;#039;re doing something wrong. I say they just go with the territory of having more than one child. BTW, he&amp;#039;s an only child himself. \u2013joyce, boston  Your last line explains it all. People who haven&amp;#039;t spent much time confined within the close quarters of a house and family with brothers and sisters, vying for parental attention being required to share a bathroom and the Wii just don&amp;#039;t get it: Siblings fight. They bicker, fuss, quibble, tattle, and, yes, sometimes come to blows. (This photo is of my oldest two kids, once upon a time, btw.) Sibs also love one another like the dickens, almost always, although sometimes on a deeper and more subliminal level. (But it&amp;#039;s an important thought to remember.) Sibling rivalry can be lessened by how the parents treat it, but you just can&amp;#039;t make it go away completely. No matter how much time and attention you lavish on each child, they want what the other one has, too. No matter how you praise the individual gifts of one, they will hear it as nonpraise for them. You can do a few things to inch them toward civility, of course. You can let them know you plan to ignore tattling, because if you weren&amp;#039;t there, you didn&amp;#039;t see it, and guessing only promotes tattletale behavior. You can try not to always stick up for the youngest (because they can be amazing provocateurs, provoking older sibs to wrong, but understandable, behaviors). You can encourage them to settle disputes on their own. And you want to discourage bodily harm, please. \u2013Paula Spencer, WD &amp;quot;Momfidence&amp;quot; columnist "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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