"Sibling rivalry is the antagonism or hostility between brothers and/or sisters which manifests itself in circumstances such as a common children's family fights..." (Boyle, 1999). The root of sibling rivalry can be looked at through nature. In nature the problem is due to competition for limited resources. Extreme cases of sibling rivalry that occur in nature are those between shark siblings and between eagle siblings. In the case of the baby shark, the largest shark in the mothers womb eats the other sharks to make sure the largest shark receives all of the food

resources. In the case of the eagles, the eaglet that hatches first pushes the other eaglets out of the nest as soon as they hatch to ensure that the food that is brought back the first born receives.

"A similar competition exists between siblings in human families" (Boyle, 1999). The scarce resources that human siblings fight for are time, love, attention, and approval. "Sibling rivalry is one of humanities oldest problems" (Boyle, 1999). One of the first stories in the Bible (which is the oldest book in Western civilization) deals with sibling rivalry. The story is about two brothers, Cain and Able. Cain, the older brother was tired of having to constantly take care of Able, the younger brother. In end, Cain's resentment towards Able led to the murder of Able by Cain. By looking at this story, it shows the great importance and long-term effects of sibling rivalry.

Other observations that I have made have been within my own life. From the time I can remember to just last week, my brother and I have been in constant competition for my parents attention and time. The first instance that I can remember was during my brothers baptism, although it is unlikely for anyone to remember events before the age of four, I distinctly remember the party at our house. I remember looking around at all of the people, mainly their legs, and thinking to myself, why are all these people here for him. I desperately wanted the attention of the adults around me, however, the attention was not on me that day. After thinking that, I remember leaving the house to go swing on the swings in my backyard by myself, hoping someone would notice that I was gone. After that, I don't remember clearly what happened, but my thoughts and actions showed that I wanted the attention focused on me, rather than my brother, which is a form of sibling rivalry. My actions, in this situation, were passive-aggressive

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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)