·        Conflict-reduction intervention – Parents can participate in intervention schemes like this to limit the amount of conflict between siblings. They focus on equipping children with an set of social and emotional competencies. Such interventions are generally successful, however, engaged sibling interactions do not emerge straight away and such interventions can also cause children to completely isolate themselves socially from each other.

·        Reinforcing alternate behaviours (Leitenberg et al ,1977) – Conditioning methods can be utilised by parents to reinforce actions between siblings that are not conflictual. When applied in the household, this could take the form of rewarding siblings with sweets/snacks if they are cooperating with each other or have not argued for a certain length of time.

·        Modelling appropriate behaviours – Parents can further model the social behaviours they want their children to enact. 

However, as Kramer (2010) states, reducing conflict is perhaps not the most effective mechanism for improving sibling relationships. The absence of conflictual and competitive behaviours does not necessarily result in a positive and engaging relationship. Alternately, parents should focus on promoting healthy conflict between siblings. This can be done by:

·        Teaching siblings to respect each other – Through educating siblings on the importance of respect and boundaries it acts a framework to support future competitive interactions. With respect, siblings can empathise with each other further, allowing for healthier competitive interactions.

·        Encouraging siblings to display conflict in the right context – Parents can use encourage siblings to participate in activities such as sport. Through doing this children can learn to be competitive, however, without disrespecting each other and causing unhealthy conflict.