Competition between brothers and sisters: Is there a winner?

by Cintia López

When I was a child, I used to quarrel with my little sister about who had the bigger piece of cake or who had the most beautiful doll. One day, our mother told us that we should stop quarrelling because competition between sisters was pointless. “You shouldn’t compete, you should work as a team,” our mother said.

At those times, I did not realize the importance of the issue; I just stop quarrelling with my sister because my mother said so. Nowadays, I can understand it. Brothers and sisters are more than just people to play with. They are the ones that stay by your side in good or bad times. And it is important that parents make that clear.

I remembered this particular moment of my childhood when I read a children’s story called “Two greedy bears”, written by Mirra Ginsburg. The story is about two bear cubs that start exploring the world by themselves and when they are hungry and thirsty, they contend for food and water. It is similar to my childhood story, except for the absence of a mother telling the two bear cubs that quarrelling for water or food is wrong. Instead, there is a fox that teaches them a hard lesson, that being greedy is no good. This is the moral the author tries to transmit in the tale.

The author focuses on the problem of greediness but she ignores the importance of fraternity. Although competition is a typical characteristic in the animal kingdom and in the humans’ world, it is not appropriate for a tale as it sends the wrong message to young readers. Competition is something you should have in mind when you play a sport not when you spend time with your sister or brother.

Despite the fact that the moral of the story transmits a specific message, readers should pay attention to other values that are ignored by Guinsburg. When reading this story to children, parents should clarify the situation and explain them that brothers and sisters must work together and that sharing is better than competing.