How to encourage siblings to get along?

[SkyBlue1987]

I have two boys 4 years apart. Youngest is 1.5 and adores his big brother. Older brother really wants nothing to do with the toddler. To be fair the toddler attempts to destroy a lot of things he makes so I understand it. And the age gap is a bit much at the moment. However I want them to at least kind of get along when they are older kids/adults and unsure how to start encouraging it. Those who kids get along do you think it’s just luck or something you did to help?

I found the Siblings Without Rivalry book to be a good one. There is a lot of luck involved though!

It will likely get better as they get older. Toddlers are generally annoying to 5/6 year olds whose development is light years ahead.

Try to protect the eldest's treasured creations from toddler impulses to destroy and suggest that your oldest makes some things just for the toddler to wreck eg junk modelling.

Physical games like chasing or kicking a ball might work.

My dh is 4 years older than his brother and they have been very close since dh was a teenager.

And yes to Siblings without Rivalry - some really good strategies in there.

My younger sister & I have a similar gap, & tbh I more or less ignored her through most of our childhood but we’re really close now, to the extent that we go on holiday together & have helped each other through a lot of shit.

We started getting on once I’d gone to university & she came to stay with me, I think it was the added maturity & the extra distance that did it.