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Calgary mom Jessica Shunga* vividly remembers the terror she felt as a kid when her sister, who is three years older than her, unleashed her fury, physically and emotionally tormenting her. ?Anything could set her off,? recalls the 37-year-old. ?I can still feel the panic and fear.? From early elementary school on, her sister would call her ugly and fat, and would pin her down and intimidate her. Shunga got punched in the face and dragged by her hair. In one particularly cruel instance, her sister kicked her in the face after she had her wisdom teeth removed.
This type of abuse might sound extreme, but Shunga is not alone. In a 2013 study of 3,600 kids aged two to 17, published in the journal Pediatrics, nearly 38 percent experienced aggression from a sibling (categorized as physical or verbal abuse and intimidation, and taking or vandalizing property) in the previous year. The incidence peaked in the younger ages: 45 percent of two- to five-year-olds and 46 percent of six- to nine-year-olds were subjected to things like hitting or biting, having their toys broken or stolen and being made to feel left out or unwanted by their siblings in the previous year. And yet, while bullying outside the home is typically met with zero tolerance, sibling fighting is often shrugged off as a normal part of growing up. But is it"
It depends on the extent and type of the quarrelling, say the experts. While any two or more kids living under the same roof will argue...