16mo jealous of 5yo I think.... is this common?

[Aranea]

5yo dd1 has been so sweet to 16mo dd2 all afternoon, playing with her and dancing with her. After supper dd2 asked me to read a book to her, and dd1 wanted to listen too. dd2 kept pushing her away and cried when I stopped her. I asked dd1 to come around to the other side of me to listen and put my arm around her, but dd2 kept pushing her away and crying. Poor dd1 was very upset.

I didn't really expect this sort of thing. All along I've been on the alert for jealousy from dd1, but this comes as a surprise. Has anyone else had a similar situation?

Yes, my DS2 is like this with DS1 sometimes - think it is on the wane now (DS2 was 2 yesterday!) but for a good few months, it was quite noticeable. It's a shame, as DS1 just adores DS2 (now - he didn't always) and is generally v sweet to him, and DS2 sometimes really turns on him. I just tried to ignore it and not let it take over, iyswim - not allowing DS2 to shove DS1 away if we were meant to be reading a story all together, but trying not to make a big deal out of it. It peaked around 18mo, then as I said has waned since. HTH!

Interesting to hear that it peaked at 18mo and then diminished. I'm encouraged by that! Thanks.

Glad to read this! My DDs are the same age as Aranea and I have just noticed the same thing in the past week...

How interesting. It's a shame when the older one is being kind and tolerant. But reassuring to hear that this sounds like a normal stage.