Helping Out with siblings

A post from a large family blog on what is reasonable help to expect from kids.

I know people always say how horrible it is for kids to help raise siblings-that's one of those criticisms frequently thrown at large families. I have always thought that they were onto something though. Obviously there's a difference between having no parental interraction and having the older kids help out with younger siblings. There's a way to do it correctly and not! And personalities and talent in this regard should always be taken into consideration. But I think mainly good things come of having responsibilities within the family. Helping with siblings should be one of those responsibilities. It teaches life skills, it's training for one day being a good spouse or even a good college roomate. It helps with sibling relationships. It contributes to the survival of the family-which should be something everyone works towards. I think a family should be more than just a collection of individuals who happen to live together. Every doing their part to help contributes to the sense that you are in it together, you're a team.