Teasing trouble

Q: My six-year-old son is constantly teasing his younger brother, who is four. I want to let them work it out, but I don’t want my older son to think his behaviour is OK.

A: Make some family rules about acceptable behaviour and language. If your older son, for example, teases his brother by calling him stupid, ban that expression and let the kids know that if they call each other names, they will be separated. When you create family rules, you are not centring out one child or the other, but protecting both from being teased.

Watch to see what causes the teasing and if there are some situations that are always problematic. If so, you can make appropriate changes to head off those circumstances.

It could also be that your older son needs more stimulation, so consider an extracurricular sport or activity for him.