Fighting with your brother or sister is actually good for you

In a Mediterranean apartment in L'Estartit, I gave him a beating that Rico Verhoeven would be jealous of. At least, in my memory, it was very hard. My brother had the gift of making me stomp my feet in anger. Back then, you know, now we are completely at peace together.

My brother is fifteen months older than I am. That means you walk together to the primary school around the corner, which of course wasn't very cool for him. You go together to the secondary school ten kilometers away. I kissed his friends, he ran off with my girlfriends. You both had to start the first hour, so he occupied the bathroom for at least three quarters of an hour when my alarm went off, which made me bang on the bathroom door like a fury and call him and his just-starting beard growth all sorts of names. But you know what the nice thing about all this is? That fight with a brother or sister when you were young is actually very good for your social skills.

How does it work? Researchers from the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Family Research discovered that little rivalry between siblings offers you a lot. You learn how complex emotions are, how you communicate, and it also makes you emotionally mature faster. Ha, how incredibly handy, actually. It is intended that parents pay a little attention and mediate in the meantime, so you learn something from it. And if the fights can't be resolved, then something is definitely wrong. But bickering with brother or sister is otherwise just particularly stimulating for your development.

I think it's time to thank your brother or sister for those explosive fights back then, so I’ll do it too. Thank you, brother. And of course, you're very welcome, you know.