You can’t force a healthy relationship between siblings; that is something almost every show on Nickelodeon and Disney has taught us. Those sibling bonds only happen when the kids work on it together and make an effort to ensure it happens.

Still, parents want their children to get along, and if they see it doesn’t happen naturally, they will try to intervene, which usually only makes it worse. Throw in a divorce, a new partner, and step-siblings into the mix, and you have an even more complicated family dynamic that no one knows how to handle – Not the parent and definitely not the children.

The only thing parents can do to help their children in the direction of a healthy sibling relationship, is by having a healthy parental relationship with their kids. If you can’t be a good parent to your children, how can you expect them to be good siblings? How can you expect anything out of them if you do not lead by example?

Those are the questions that the dad in the story below should be asked.