After writing my post about sibling squabbles on Monday, I saw this article in Slate: Oh, Brother: Why, exactly, do our siblings drive us so crazy? From the article:

"It seems like such a trivial reason for murder. When God belittled Cain's gift to him of produce from his own garden, then praised his brother Abel for offering a sheep, Cain snapped.

But as you get ready to gather with your family and unwrap presents, the Bible's first homicide starts to make sense. If being with your siblings this Christmas fills you with unalloyed joy, then you might be a member of the Duggar family. The rest of us—and about 80 percent of Americans have siblings—probably experience what evolutionary biologists say is a genetically programmed, emotional tug-of-war with our siblings."

Some points I found interesting from the article:

* Children who have older siblings learn from a younger age when they are being deceived. * In a study, childhood memories that haunted people were more often of the pain they inflicted on their siblings, rather than the pain their siblings inflicted on them. "It was a knowledge, some indicated, of their capacity for evil, a breach between who they feared they were and who they wanted to be." * A series of studies showed that siblings don't expect to be treated equally, but they do want to be treated fairly. (i.e. everyone gets what he/she needs, rather than everyone being treated the same.)

Food for thought as the holidays bring siblings — young and old — together.

Jen Eyer is on the Community Team at AnnArbor.com. She oversees the Parenting and Home & Garden sections, and writes feature stories, blog posts and opinion pieces. She can be reached at 734-623-2577 or jeneyer@annarbor.com.