In the situation in which we found ourselves over the past months, it was certainly not easy to give up the everyday life filled with social interaction, both for us and for the youngest among us, who were forced to leave behind their school desks, friendships, hobbies and various other activities.

These specific circumstances have perhaps helped us understand better the value of the sibling bond, which provides an enormous number of factors that foster healthy psycho-physical and social development.

One of the greatest benefits is that brothers and sisters offer the possibility of playing together, unlike only children, who during quarantine were most often compelled to seek "partners" for play in virtual environments.

Ever since antiquity, play has been a subject of interest for many philosophers, sociologists and psychologists. Even Plato himself recognised the importance of play, stating: "You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."

Play has also occupied a special place in psychology, in the research of the greatest psychoanalysts, such as Melanie Klein and Anna Freud. They held that, through play, especially imaginative play, the child manifests unconscious content. Through play, according to the pleasure principle, the child instinctively masters stressful events and reduces tension.

 Today most scientists agree that play is an innate biological need in human beings, as in any other animal species, and as such it is an excellent means of combating boredom and depression at every age.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Children's Games, detail, oil on canvas

Sibling play also fosters an understanding of roles. By learning and practising a role, the child learns not only their own role but also the complementary one. Observing the interactions between brothers and sisters, one can notice how they perform asymmetrical and complementary roles with one another. Older siblings act as teachers, managers and tutors, while younger siblings take on corresponding roles such as pupils, assistants and so on.

Brothers and sisters certainly do not always agree, but conflict at home can be excellent training for learning negotiation and communication skills, which will certainly prove useful in other contexts too.

Finally, brothers and sisters play an important role in the development of empathy. Sibling relationships significantly affect the recognition of one's own and others' feelings, and as a consequence positively influence prosocial behaviour. The very birth of a brother or sister already offers parents rich opportunities for conversations about comforting and caring for another, and this allows older siblings to take on new identities in which they are actively involved in caring for the newborn child. As younger siblings become more active and more equal partners in play, sharing resources (e.g. toys) becomes an increasingly relevant aspect of prosocial behaviour.

We can conclude with the words of Pope Francis at the general audience of 18 February 2015, which perfectly describe the importance of the sibling relationship for the development of prosocial skills: "Familial fraternity shines in a special way when we see the care, the patience, the affection that envelop the weakest little brother or sister, sick or physically challenged. There are very many brothers and sisters who do this, throughout the world, and perhaps we do not sufficiently appreciate their generosity. And when there are many children in a family - today I greeted a family with nine children - the eldest boy or girl helps the dad, the mom, to take care of the younger children. And this is indeed beautiful, helping one's siblings. Having a brother, a sister, who loves you is a deep, precious, irreplaceable experience. The same thing happens in Christian fraternity. The smallest, the weakest, the poorest must be approached with tenderness: they have the 'right' to take our heart and soul. Yes, they are our brothers and we must love them and treat them as such."

Behold, How Good (Ps 133)

Music by: Anđelko Igrec

Performed by: The Varaždin Cathedral Choir "Chorus angelicus"

https://youtu.be/unQYRT5T3Kk