On Sibling Love

I have no doubt mentioned here before that I have a brother. A little brother, though to be fair, he is a tad taller than me now!

my-brother-and-i

My brother and I have the same age gap as my children. Well, if we’re being absolutely exact, our age gap is 2 years, 11 months and 2 days, whereas Little Man’s and Boo’s is 2 years and 11 months dead on. And yes, my brother did berate me at the time of Little Man’s birth for not getting the gap right!

We got on well as kids. My childhood is filled with memories of playing with my brother. Special moments have him in them, birthdays, Christmases, holidays and so on. As we grew up, we drifted apart a little. We lived in the same house, yet as teens we were both so different doing our own things. We went to different schools and I think when looking back, we kind of just co-existed for a few years back then. In our later teens we pulled back together as I remember him coming out with my friends every now and then, our former closeness returning. We’re very fortunate that along with the Husband and my brother’s wife, we all get along really well. We’ve had various days out, nights at each other’s houses and holidays together – we were even with them for the first few days of their honeymoon in California.

My brother is a big part of our decision to have Little Man. He had no say in it, don’t get me wrong!, but looking back I could not imagine growing up without him and I wanted that for Boo. I wanted the constant playmate for her, and that special relationship that you can only ever share with a sibling. It’s wonderful throughout your childhood and OK, so we don’t see anywhere as near as much of each other as we used to these days, he is still there. I still have a person in this world who experienced so much of my life with me and who will always, always have my back.

So far, though they are only 7 and 4, the kids get on brilliantly well together. I can only hope that as they grow they will remain close and maybe it will help them to understand how important their relationship is when they see me with their uncle. They are doubly fortunate as the Husband gets on well with his big sister, too, as do I, counting her as one of my closest friends.

I realise not all siblings get on. I realise you may be reading this thinking of your own and maybe they inspired you not to have more children! But for me, my life just would not have been the same without my little bro, and I can only hope that one day my daughter will be thinking these very same thoughts about her brother.

Are you close to your siblings?

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2 thoughts on “On Sibling Love”

  1. It’s lovely when you have a sibling you can be close too. It was because I didn’t that I decided that I’d like my children closer together. My older two are exactly 17 months apart. Boy and girl. They got on great when young, went through a stage of arguing when they were teens and are close again now. They still have the odd argument but always stand up for each other. I’d say they are still really close even at 27 and 28 years old. I hope my younger three stay close. The girls are mostly but the Little Man gets left out a lot, he’s like the annoying little brother. I’m hoping it will get better as he gets older and learns how to play without disruption.
    I have two older siblings who were already teenagers when I was born, and I had a younger brother who was 8 years younger than me and always a pain in the butt.

    1. It’s funny how our own childhood experiences do have such a big impact on our family decisions. Lovely to hear yours all get on and I hope Little Man will soon, too.

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