sibling rivalry

My sister and I used to fight all the time like that too, she's three years younger than me. What brought us closer together was when we were mature enough to respect and appreciate each others' differences (I think we were 17 and 14, freshman and senior in high school). Now we are best friends, even maid of honor at each others' wedding, so there is still plenty of hope for them. Maybe your daughters just need time, and encouragement to be individuals, and they will stop fighting on their own. It is important that each have her own space and her own friends. Having been through some major rivalry I don't think any sort of punishment is going to solve the issue.

Oh my goodness...when I saw this discussion I had to do a double take to see if I had forgotten starting it. I also have two daughters aged 15 & 12 who fight constantly about anything and everything. So long as they are both off doing their own 'thing' and following their own interests, things remain peaceful. Once they are both home, and in the same room it becomes a battle, and my 15 year screams constantly at her sister at just about everything...unless of course she wants something from her. The 12 year old can be very aggravating, and irritating to her sister. One minute they can be huddled together sharing some secret...or perhaps making sure I don't find something out, and the next moment they are yelling at one another, and at times getting physical with one another. The only thing that seems to help temporarily is to send them each to their own rooms for a cooling off time, but it just doesn't seem to last. Hope you find someone with some helpful advice racerswife, because I know I haven't had a whole lot of luck in trying to deal with this issue. Is it something to do with the ages?

Try to get them into sports or other activities in which teamwork really counts. Once they realize that the enjoy each others company and share interests, the rivalry will go away permanently.