Today we want to remember the little and big heroes of the family: siblings. Even at various stages of life, the relationship between siblings is difficult to navigate, and while they radiate love, they also unleash anger on each other. They are figures of extreme trust, and this leads to a constant flow of emotions and outbursts.
Siblings establish the first pattern of peer relationships, as well as important memories for later affective and emotional relationships. Family always plays the best role, the strongest bond, but finding the balance between responsibility, love, and attention in these cases is admirable.
The arrival of a sibling with disabilities is a difficult time for all family members. Each person experiences it in their own way. A sibling feels conflicting emotions: worry and fear, as well as tenderness and love, curiosity, frustration at the lack of explanation, "why me?", and countless uncertainties swirling within them.
What is clear is that with pure innocence they experience the arrival of a being they sense is full of love and devotion. It is good to normalize the emotions they experience, removing guilt and highlighting their strengths. These emotions include worry and fear, shame, and feelings of isolation, loneliness, and loss; difficulty sharing feelings with other siblings of children with special needs; and, in some situations, a need for more attention from their parents.
Giving them active listening, lots of love, and the opportunity to experience the stage of life appropriate to their age (not expecting more maturity than they should have), as well as emptying their small backpack of responsibilities, is what they need.
It is clear that the siblings are maturing by leaps and bounds because of the situation. From Aspademis, we congratulate you on your composure, your adaptability, your increased responsibility, your great care, and above all, we congratulate you on the team you are forming. Congratulations to all the siblings for the strong personalities you are forging and the tremendous resilience you are developing.