Cain and Abel- Thomas Ueland

Adam and Eve had 2 sons, the eldest being Cain and the youngest being Abel. Although they did not always get along, they still loved each other and looked after one another. One day, their parents told them of God's wish to sacrifice a lamb; each boy was told to offer one. Abel took this order to heart and sacrificed one of his best lambs, whereas Cain didn't see the point and instead tried to burn some straw. When the lamb caught fire and the straw did not, the brothers realized that God had been testing them and that only Abel had passed. In a jealous rage, Cain asks Abel to go on a walk and kills him on the trip. 

The Cain and Abel story is an extreme example of sibling conflict; we all have experienced frustration regarding our siblings, but it rarely escalates to circumstances similar to this bible story. As for me, having 4 brothers and sisters means that I am very familiar with this type of conflict. Two are in college now and so the house is much quieter, but a few years ago we couldn't make it through a family dinner without arguing about something trivial. Though entertaining at times, these encounters generally darkened the mood and drew people into an argument who should have had nothing to do with it . Parents can intervene, but in our case it was best to let the two arguers work it out  because otherwise we would hold grudges for long periods of time. Overall, I believe that sibling conflict is unavoidable and instead we should focus on keeping the arguments civil and under control.