Sibling Love
Siblings Day is celebrated on 10th April 2026
by Claire Law
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To celebrate the role that siblings play in society.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides accompanying this assembly (Sibling Love) and the means to display them.
Assembly
- Show Slide 1. Welcome the students to the assembly.
- Explain that you are going to show a series of images taken from TV and film. Each slide shows characters who are siblings (brothers or sisters) to other characters in the same show. Ask the students if they can identify which TV show or film the image comes from, and name the sibling characters on the slides.
- Show Slide 2.
Ask the questions:
Do you know which show?
Who are the characters we see here?
Listen to a range of suggestions.
The answers are: Stranger Things – the popular Netflix show where we meet Billy and her stepbrother Max. - Show Slide 3.
Ask the questions:Do you know which show?
Who are the characters we see here?
Listen to a range of suggestions.
The answers are: Star Wars and the siblings are Luke and Leia who feature together significantly in Return of the Jedi, where they discover they are twins. - Show Slide 4.
Ask the questions:Do you know which show?
Who are the characters we see here?
Listen to a range of suggestions.
The answers are: Modern Family. Here we see the 3 siblings Haley, Alex, and Luke Dunphy who are Phil and Claire's three children in the show. - Show Slide 5.
Ask the questions:Do you know which show?
Who are the characters we see here?
Listen to a range of suggestions.
The answers are: The Simpsons. The characters are Lisa, Bart and their baby sister, Maggie. - Show Slide 6.
Ask the questions:Do you know which show?
Who are the characters we see here?
Listen to a range of suggestions.
The slide shows Harry Potter along with Hermoine and Ron. These three are not actually siblings. Harry and Hermoine are only children. Ron has brothers and a sister. However, the three friends form a bond that can be considered like family. In a way, the three characters have a sibling type relationship with each other. Sometimes sibling type relationships can extend beyond those people we are related to. - So, why are we thinking about siblings in this assembly? Well, April is the month in which many people across the globe will recognize the importance of siblings. In the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, and the UK, April 10th is recognised as Siblings’ Day. It honours the relationship of brothers and sisters.
- If any of us have one or more siblings, we’ll know that siblings can argue and fight. But siblings can also provide support and connection. Let’s consider some of the things worth celebrating about sibling and sibling type relationships:
- Siblings can be our first playmates.
- Siblings can be the people we get chance to practice conflict resolution with at a young age. We play together, we fight together, and we have chance to learn how to make up and resolve arguments with our siblings.
- They potentially know us for a very long time – the whole of our lives perhaps.
- Siblings often understand our family's specific history and dynamics. They know the characters in our family and the dynamics between people. They understand who we are.
- Siblings can also offer help with life challenges. Siblings can be the people we turn to when we need serious help.
Time for reflection
The benefits of sibling and sibling type relationships are recognized in religious tradition. In the Bible, there is a proverb that speaks about the importance of the support siblings can give in troubled times. Proverbs 17:17 states: A brother is born for a time of adversity.
In the Hindu tradition, the ceremony of Raksha Bandhan involves a ritual to celebrate the bond between brothers and sisters. Sisters of all ages tie a simple bracelet around the wrists of their brothers, to honour the bond between them.
In Islam, maintaining strong ties with family, including siblings, is a religious obligation known as silat-ur-rahm. It is important for Muslims to foster and work on building loving and supportive relationships with their siblings.
In both Christianity and Islam, the words brother and sister are used to refer to other believers who are part of the family of God. Another believer can be our sister or our brother, even when we’re not related by marriage or by genetics. Care for others extends to this wider family of faith.
Let us take the opportunity to reflect on how we feel about siblings.
Ask the questions: Do you have siblings? How does this make you feel?
Briefly pause for reflection.
Do you have people who are like a sibling to you, even if you are not related?
Briefly pause for reflection.
How is your relationship with them?
Briefly pause for reflection.
In what ways have you been there for your siblings, or your sibling-like relationships, when they have faced troubled times?
Briefly pause for reflection.
If there is tension or challenges between you and them, is there anything you would want to do to address this.
Briefly pause for reflection.
How could you be more patient or supportive with your siblings or sibling type relations?
Briefly pause for reflection.
How could you respond to your siblings, or sibling type relations, when you’re facing difficulties between you?
Briefly pause for reflection.
Prayer
Let us take a moment to pray for siblings and people who are, or who can be, like brothers or a sisters to us. Let’s also pray for people who experience loneliness or face challenges in their relationships with siblings.
Dear God,
We thank you for all kinds of sibling relationships, for brothers, sisters, twins, stepsiblings and half-siblings.
We thank you that we can also find sibling type relationships with other people.
We pray for those times when we feel frustrated with our siblings, or misunderstood, rejected, or angry.
When things feel messy and chaotic, please bring your peace.
When we are short-tempered or self-absorbed, please remind us of your perfect love.
We pray for people who have siblings who are ill or suffering in some other way.
We pray, too, for people who have limited or no contact with siblings.
Please help us to find ways today to remember the benefits of having siblings and sibling type relationships in our lives.
Please be close to those people who wish that they had a sibling.
Please bring people into their lives with whom they can form a close bond.
Amen.
