What's new

Siblings

i'm the oldest and only girl. i have 2 younger brothers and we fit the typical model/sterotype of birth order traits to a tee!
 
Just me and a younger brother! And I agree...there is something about the birth order! I am a bossy big sis! :)
 
Karen said:
I have an older sister, but there is only 16 months between us and my Mom always said she raised us as twins. We've always been close and still are today. She lives 4 hours away, but we get our families together often and we both have two boys that are all close in age and play together like best friends too. I'm so lucky!
Click to expand...

I have one younger brother, we're 14 months apart, and my Mom said the same thing! We did not get along after about middle school but that, I feel, is because my Mom favored him. Blatantly. I took it out on them both. She never saw it but people have mentioned it to me before, so at least I know it wasn't just in my head!

I never really thought of myself as the bossy type but when it calls for it, I totally am, with him. When my Mom was sick and in the hospital I tore him a new one about not being there, in a nice way haha, and there have been a few other times I've "taken over". We weren't close until he had his first child and then we had a lot more in common. He lives 4 hours away and we see each other 3-5 times a year. I like that if they need help, they call me :).

My kids are 10 years apart and are, basically, two "only" children. They spend a lot of time together and get along well. I'm hoping they don't grow up feeling like strangers because of the age difference.
 
I have two older bros - and I'm also the only girl. So I was pretty much protected from any unacceptable boys :)

I will say birth order makes a big difference. We had two boys who were 15 and 12, and then an adopted sister who was then-5 (adopted at 18 months) and then adopted a 9 year old girl out of birth order. We thought our little would like it because she would still get to be the "baby aka princess" but wow! did it inspire some major jealousy. I understand why adoption agencies often warn you about adopting out of birth order...it kind of throws a wrench in each child's "place" so to speak!
 
Last edited:
I'm an only child.... with aunts and uncles on both sides that are like brothers and sisters.

My aunt on my dad's side is 10 years older, and everyone thought I was the little sister in high school. She was the last of 8 kids... (all of their names start with J like mine) so they thought I was one more. lol.... a surprise.

My 2 uncles on my mom's side were 8 years and 10 years older than me.

I'm close with my many aunts and uncles, but the ones closer in age are more like a sister and brothers a bit.

DH's sisters drive me bonkers, and we don't always get along. We all live far enough away from each other so that when we do visit, they are good visits, lol!
 
I have one sister, but we're only 15 months apart so it wasn't a huge age difference. She definitely has a first-born type of personality - she's responsible, patient and generous. I have more of the "baby of the family" personality (impatient, goofy, selfish) although neither of our parents really played up either role for the two of us since we were so close in age. We had the same rules and responsibilities, we usually got the same things at the same time, etc. Which is why I sort of buy into birth order theory, because our environment wasn't all that different yet we both fall into fairly typical roles.
 
I'm an only child and had a very close knit family with aunts/uncles/cousins. I was used to being by myself a lot but also enjoyed our family get-togethers so I feel that I got the best of both worlds. My hub's family is much larger and after seeing how they would bicker and not get along, it made me feel blessed for my small family and lack of drama. Mind you....I have friends who are very close to their siblings and I think that is something to feel very fortunate for and I would sometimes wish for a sister I could be close to.
 
I have a younger brother, 5 years younger so he just turned 51.... and each of us lives in one end of the hemispheres...
he lives in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego (that's across the little but of water from the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, Antarctica) we don't see each other very often... he is a pastor of an evangelical church there and they have 3 kids so don't travel much, they ve only been here once... but we do get to meet sometimes when we go Christmas/New Year with my parents...last time was 2009 though :(
If there is one major thing about my living in England, is the distance from the family :( would love for Sarita to have grown up with the cousins like I did....
 
I am the oldest of eight. (GGBGBBGB) I love all of my siblings but we don't live near each other or hang out or talk on a regular basis. We get together every few years for a family reunion and it is always fun to see the families grow and change. I follow my nieces and nephews on FB and probably know more about their lives than my siblings. It amazes me how different we all are.
 
I have two sisters. Im the baby! :)
Oldest has two girls, middle sis has four girls, and I have two.
Then I have a half brother, who is WAY taller than me, yet younger. He is expecting his first child in December.
My sisters and I have always been close. We kinda lost contact with eachother when I moved to Texas two years ago.
Since Ive been back, (since last November) we've gotten closer than we ever have before. Our mom was just diagnosed with 4th stage Pancreatic cancer about a month ago, and had her first Chemo treatment on Monday. Im thankful im home. and thankful i live with my mom to take care of her.
I havent spoke to my brother in a few years.
 
I grew up an only child with my mom. When a met my dad the first time I was 10 and found out I had a brother and sister. Over the next couple years he had 2 more so I had 3 younger sisters and a younger brother who lived 2000 miles away.

When I was 22, I found out my mom adopted out a boy a year before I was born with the same father.. Which meant I had a full blooded brother I never grew up with but knew because we went to the same high school..


So long story short :) 3 sisters and 2 brothers :)
 
So, how does birth order work when you're child #9? LOL I'm the ninth of TEN kids. I feel incredibly BLESSED that we all get along so well! I don't talk to all of them on a regular basis but we have a facebook group where we share stuff. (except brother #4 who doesn't do fb) Eight of us live within 3 hours of each other so once a month we gather for a family dinner at my parents house, including spouses and kids. It is loud and crowded and awesome - and drives my Mom nuts. Ironically, she hates crowds and noise! But she does love us. We also do a big family trip every summer, usually rent a big cabin in the mountains and play for a week. Man, I love my big family and all my awesome siblings! As far as the birth order goes, my oldest brother and oldest sister definitely both fit the oldest child mold, but I'm not really sure about the rest of us - we're all very chill.
 
It's complicated. :giggle

I have 2 half sisters. One from my father, and one from my mother. The one from my father is maybe 4 years younger? I don't know her, though. The one I do know is the one from my mother. And she's 14 years younger than me. It's normal enough now that I'm old and she's actually a grown up, but it was more a mother/daughter relationship mostly growing up. Maybe still, I dunno.
 
I have a younger sister (4 years difference). I think she sees me as the one who could never do anything wrong, and she was the one who does everything wrong. And we've pretty much kept those roles. However, we are able to ignore most of that sibling stuff and get along when we're together. I have 3 children ages high school and college. Her kids are both younger than mine, but my youngest and her oldest are best friends. We try to make sure they spend at least a week together all year (just got my daughter back this week). She loves living in a small town and knowing everyone in the grocery store. I get the creeps from that and love living in the biggest city in our state. We're very different, but we make it work.
 
I have a younger sister which is 18 months my junior. Strangely, SHE was always the boss. I was always the dreamer, the artist. She was the organisator, the manager, the one who had things under control- it's pretty much like this today.
I also have two brothers who are 12 and 15 years younger than I am, but their childhood was totally different from ours... it's as if my parents didn't have four children, but two times two...
 
I only have a younger bro, 5yrs younger.

From the looks of the old photos, we were close. But when my parents divorced when I was 16yo, we just grew apart.

When we reached adulthood, we had gotten slightly closer. But not to the extent, I can just ring him for help/confidence.

The one rare occasion he showed his brotherly-love for me was when there was a report of the contact lens saline lotion being "poisoned". He texted me abt it and ask me to take care. I thot I had saved a copy of that text but guess not cos I cannot find it.

Other than that, we only see each other on special occasions.
 
I have one sister, she's 2 years younger than I am and I can honestly say she is my best friend. We were mostly close growing up, didn't fight a ton. I'd say she fits the older sibling role more than I do. :) I was wild and ridiculous and irresponsible in high school and she was much more reserved, mature, etc. She attended the same college I did and we got even closer during that time. Then after college I moved in with Eric (now my hubby) and just the physical distance between us made it hard.

Then, 3 1/2 years ago, her fiance was diagnosed with cancer. They moved back close to us so that he was close to his doctors, and I spent a ton of time with them during his sickness and his hospice stay. We got even closer while Chris was sick and closer still after he passed away. If she wasn't at our house, we were at hers. Mostly b/c I had a hard time with her being by herself and tried as hard as I could to "fix it" - although we all know that was impossible.

In March we went to Mexico together and it was amazing. She lives about 30 minutes from us and I don't know what I will do when we move. We have a really super dysfunctional family and we talk all the time about how we could not get through it alone. No one understands the circumstances of our parents and extended family so we definitely need each other.
 
I have two step sisters, but I have never lived with them and they are much younger than me so basically I feel like an only child. I wish I was closer to them but we just aren't :(
 
I have an older brother and we are very very close.
 
Back
Top