I’m a slow reader, though, so I’m well past the sign before I see what they are advertising.  I make a mental note to look again the next time I drive that route.

Well, the short story is it takes me several times before I find the same sign and am really able to see it.  They are not talking about children or even adults.  They are talking about liquor: there are two bottles sitting together. The print is too small for me to read the label and I since I’m allergic to alcohol, I don’t recognize the bottles. 

Rather than seeing the ad and going to buy one or both of these bottles, I’m writing about them here. 

Siblings.  What is it about siblings that is so important, so potent, so powerful an image that even marketing departments of liquor companies know it will draw business.  It has to be because marketing departments only use imagery that will attract business.

I spend a lot of my professional life helping adult siblings get along better; teaching new parents that rivalry between siblings doesn’t have to be negative.   I’m working to change the image of rivalry or to eradicate sibling rivalry, and here the liquor company is banking on making money on it.

Let me repeat, siblings do NOT have to be rivalrous in a way that is harmful.  I imagine the tennis playing Williams sisters have found a positive way to use their sibling rivalry.

And, for those who have grown up with brothers and sisters and are now not speaking, or speaking badly to each other, there is a way out.

Since children are not born not liking each other, something happens during childhood that turns children against each other.  Often, without intending to, parents set the stage for their children to fight or feel unappreciated.

Understanding how you and your siblings got to the point where you are today is a huge step towards changing the relationship.

In Unique Retreats for Siblings, sisters and brothers have a chance to sort out their history, unravel the strings that led to their current conflict.  (It’s rarely just about the current events they think are the cause.)  They have a chance to hear each other’s stories, in ways they may not have heard before – because they know they will be heard themselves.

So, if you were ever close with a sibling, especially if you were close during your pre-school and elementary school days, know that it is possible to recapture that closeness.  You don’t have to turn to those sibling rivalry liquor bottles in remorse for what you have lost.