Don't get other siblings involved

Recently I witnessed something I dislike as a parent. A parent was reprimanding their child for unacceptable behavior when another sibling joined in the berating. It soon became a two against one dialog as they both got in an agreement about how bad this other child is. I died a little inside and felt bad for this child.

When it comes to reprimanding a child it is important that other family members don't join in and gang up on the child in question. There is that saying 'black sheep of the family' and that saying is essentially other family members getting together and deciding that one person in the family is not good enough to be part of the family, or at least not as good as the other family members. Kind of an awful way to feel about a person and an awful way for a person to see themselves. Imagine that person knowing that's how other people (family, loved ones) feel about them.

There may be that one person in the family who is more mischievous than others, more angry, moody, bitchy, cranky, sulky, hyper, whiny etc. A person like that needs to be told their behavior isn't acceptable and it could be harder to love someone who is hard work. However, standard childhood behaviors and moods are not a good enough reason for family members to gang up on someone and determine they're not as good as other family members.

Keep your children out of adult, parenting affairs.