National Siblings Day 2024
Join us on National Siblings Day on Wednesday 10th April 2024 - an awareness day celebrating brothers and sisters everywhere!
At Sibs, we know what a valuable role siblings play in the lives of their disabled brothers and sisters, how unique their relationship can be and how they need to be recognised and celebrated in their own right too.
We know that it can be difficult for parents to juggle the needs of their children, and parents tell us that sometimes siblings’ needs can get overlooked. National Siblings Day is a brilliant opportunity to show your sibling child how much you value them.
Here are a few ideas of how you can use the day to help young siblings:
- Tell your sibling child about National Siblings Day! They may see you supporting disability awareness days throughout the year – let them know that today you are celebrating their special day.
- Show your sibling child our YoungSibs pages – it will help them to know they aren’t alone – they are part of our 2 million strong sibling community!
- Check out our resources for National Siblings Day – including colouring, writing and drawing sheets for young siblings. Show off their art work on your fridge – or send it in to Sibs to add to our online gallery!
- Put your sibling child first on National Siblings Day! Siblings often have to wait until their brother or sister has their needs met first. Tell your disabled child that they will need to wait your sibling child has everything they need first – even if your disabled child does not understand this, your sibling child will and will feel good about coming first.
- Find a way of celebrating the day, however small. Perhaps let your sibling child decide what you have for dinner or what activity you will all do today. Quite often, siblings don’t get to choose – let them choose today!
- Share with your sibling what you love about them or get out some old photos or videos/DVDs and talk about those special things they did as a young child. They will feel cherished by your memories and attention.
- Tell your child about something you have learnt from him or her. For example, how to play a new game or use a tablet, or how to be creative. By telling children that you have learnt something from them they feel valued and appreciated. ‘This is something I have learnt from you’.
- Thank your sibling child for something they have done – perhaps it was helping their brother or sister when they were unwell, or helping you to get jobs done. Saying thank you even after the event has passed shows siblings you have noticed the uniquely important role they play in your family.
If you have a bit more time – try this!
Many siblings say that others don’t know what it is like to live with a disabled brother or sister. Tell your sibling child that you want understand this better.
Ask them to write a page about being a sibling and to include these:
- The things they like about being a sibling
- The things they find hard
- The things that other people do which help them as a sibling
- The things they wish other people would do to help them
- How they feel about their brother or sister
When this is finished thank them for helping you to understand their lives more clearly. See if there are any practical solutions to any of the things they have written about.
Happy National Siblings Day!