do you get on with your siblings

[busyweeks78]

Has your relationship changed as you’ve got older?

One sister- I’m the oldest. She’s 15 months younger. We’ve gone through phases ( once we’re basically nc for 2 years) but we’re pretty close now. Whatsapp pretty much daily. See each other a few times a month. She is great with my kids and they love her ( she is the stereotypical batshit indulgent childless aunt). We are very different but both mellowed with age a bit and now we’ve accepted the differences we get on well I’d say.

Yes. As children and teens we fought like cat and dog, always on at each other. But we are 29 and 31 now and get on very well. We've been through a lot together and know that only us two can really understand what the other has experienced. My brother lives quite a way away but we speak on the phone every week and when he is back we spend lots of time together. He will be with us all day for Christmas. My children adore him. I hope my children have a similar relationship when they grow up, my eldest 2 are the same as my brother and I were as children so I do feel some hope that they will be as close as us one day!

I love my sister. She’s my best friend. She’s hard work at the moment though due to a lot going on in her life and she uses me as an emotional crutch.

I just have one DB, a little older than me; we were great playmates as children and are very close now. Our DM died ten years ago and since then we've seen each other a lot more; before that I think she would pass on news to one of us about the other. He is very important to me, the most important person in my life next to DP (I don't have DCs). Love my SIL and nieces too.

I’m very close with my sister, we talk every day. See each other less as she lives at the other end of the country.

Less close with my brother, but still talk a couple of times a week. He’s 11 years younger though and at uni, so we are at very different points in our life.

I get along with my brother but not his wife sadly, this has caused issues. I get along with one sister from a distance, or a short walk somewhere. I used to tolerate my other sister but since having my DC I have been recalling more and more of the bullying and borderline abuse I suffered from her as a child and I have been avoiding her

One older sister and we get along quite well and have a laugh together. We are very different in lots of ways though and don’t have much in common. If we weren’t sisters then I doubt we would become good friends if we met.

My sister is my best friend and I get on with my brothers too. We have a WhatsApp group so are always in touch even though none of us live close to each other.
Our dcs are all close too and we see each other a few times a year.

When we were teens and my dB went to university, we couldn’t really be bothered with each other. When he got back from university he had grown up and wasn’t such a twat anymore. Though he has his moments of being of drama queen, I tend to ignore him then, usually it’s because he didn’t get his own way.

Nope NC with the lot at the moment and possibly forever. 2 older brothers bullied my DSis and I for our entire childhoods culminating in sexual abuse from the eldest towards us. DSis buried his abusive behaviours for years leaving me to try to face up to it alone with her constantly confusing me as she tried to make it go away, not her fault but utterly damaging for me. She has tried to pretend we have a “wonderful” family outside of that one small insignificant issue. Other older DB has changed a lot for the better but will still revert to bullying on occasion which I can no longer deal with. Younger DB helps DPs sweep it all under the carpet.

I’m trying my damnedest to do everything differently in my family. My children’s childhood bears no resemblance to mine. They are individuals who are valued as being individuals and not how they make the overall family “look”. They are not expected to put up with constant abuse from each other, any behaviours like that are tackled by DH and me and they are taught how to manage the interactions better. We do our best to help them to understand their emotions and to allow them to guide their needs and wants.

Yes. I have a younger brother who lives about 2.5 hours away. We speak on video every couple of weeks or so, and see each other every 3-4 months. We are not close in a way that we confide everything to another but in a way that being in each other's company is just really easy and funny (we have similar humour) so it's always good fun.

I also know he would always be there if I needed him for anything and he knows the same about me.

I love him a great deal and tell him often.

My sister isn’t talking, no idea why but it might have been a family gathering that I organised, the last one she stopped talking to me and didn’t come. I’m really sad about it

Me and my older sister couldn’t be in the same room as each other through our teens (she’s three years older) we fought constantly physically and verbally. I moved out when I was 18 and now we are best friends, I FaceTime her everyday and our kids are all really close. I would never want to live within 100 miles of her though because I really think the distance is what makes our friendship so strong, when we do get to see each other it’s special and lovely.
My younger sister is only 10 and I speak to her as often as I can when she’s not in school, we have a more niece and aunt relationship, hopefully as she gets older she will come and stay with me for the weekend we share a love of history and I can’t wait to take her around London.
I worry sick about my kids relationships when they are older, the best thing my mum did though was leave us to it. She didn’t side, she didn’t even comment on our fights.

I think not picking sides is a good idea unfortunately not one my mum was keen on.

I'm youngest of 3. We all get on well like friends but we don't have the confiding sort of closenes that some siblings have. We've never argued as I think we all have the philosophy that people mean well and if something seems off, it's just a mistake.

We live near one another and generally see each other at least once a month. I have more in common with my brother (oldest) than my sister perhaps, but we share a similar sense of humour, which helps. My brother's daughters are the v oldest kids, but his youngest and my DD get on really well despite being like chalk and cheese. Sister's little boy is only 9 weeks younger than my DS so the two boys have a lovely relationship.

I like both their partners, they seem to like DH but it's possible they're not too sure about him but are being polite (he is a bit of a 'marmite' personality)

Yes. One sister, both in our 40s - I'm the eldest. If I could make one change to how my life is set up I would have her family live nearer us (we're at opposite ends of the country). Similar age kids, DHs who were friends before they met us. My sister would be my middle-of-the-night phonecall in a crisis.
After I had DD1 I very much wanted a sister for her so she had the chance of a similar relationship (though I know it doesn't always work out and we are lucky!).