Do you refer to half-siblings as ‘step-siblings’?

[pitsoffashion]

Just curious because I have noticed in a lot of threads regarding blended families so so many posters will refer to a child’s ‘step-sister’ or ‘step-brother’ despite the children in question sharing one biological parent.

I have a half-brother (same mum) and wouldn’t refer to him as a step-brother because we are biologically siblings. I don’t often even say half-brother really, just brother. I feel like calling him a step-sibling is just factually incorrect.

I just wondered if this varies and if some people see half and step interchangeable when children only share one parent.

No. Half is half, step is step.

That said, my half sister has been in my life 33 years and I can't remember the last time I used the 'half' bit.

It's not accurate so I do not.

I agree. I have a half brother. We never refer to each other as half - he’s just my brother.

No. It really annoys me when people do this. That said I've got half siblings I've only met a handful of times but we are related.

No I don't even refer to my half-siblings as half. I just say "my brother" or "my sister".

Nah. My DS has half brothers and sisters. They all refer to him as just brother, and he refers to them as just brothers and sisters. Same as me and DH. We don't make the distinction.

A step sibling is not related by blood.

To me they are different - step is through marriage of parent i.e. the child of step parent not biologically related to you/your parent, half is biological related obviously through one parent being the same although even personally would say just sibling/brother/sister not "half" (as I do with mine) whereas step would be more likely to say step.

This is my thought too!

But whenever I read a blended family thread on here posters don’t seem to make that same distinction.

Random example but something along these lines… new mum posts that she’s just had a baby girl and her husbands 5-year-old son from a previous relationship has been misbehaving and acting up since. Multiple replies will say ‘ahh maybe he’s having a hard time adjusting to having a step-sister/maybe he’s a bit jealous of the attention his step-sister is getting’ and that sort of thing.

it just made me wonder whether it’s actually a normal thing to use step and half interchangeably.

Same for me

My half sister is always just referred to as my sister. My dad adopted her, so legally we were full sisters. But she still had (has) a biological dad and she (incorrectly, in legal terms) referred to my dad as her step dad - which does then muddy the terminology up. She's my (half) sister, but he's her step dad. You can see why people get confused!

It's just idiots who don't read the original post properly.

Step and half are 2 totally different things, to be honest find it quite offensive if anyone refers to ‘half’ sibling, it’s usually said in a way to try and undermine the significance of the relationship. Quite normal for step brothers and sisters to be referred to as such however unless perhaps grew up together from a young age/very close

No. Sister if you like them; half-sister if you’re meh; step when you can’t abide the sight.

No. People who interchange the terms clearly dont understand the distinction.

I haven’t noticed this on mumsnet. But my half brother (same mum, diff dad) is just that, but mostly I just call him my brother.

My dad’s wife’s children are my step siblings.

Haha yes this

I refer to all my half siblings (there are 4) as my brothers and sisters except one sister who always calls me her step sister i think because she hates that I was born (my mum came along after her mum divorced my dad)

I call her my half sister as she just doesn’t want me to be a sister.

My children have a half brother but they never call him that just brother.
He called them his sister and brothers.

I have half siblings and step siblings.
Like lots of PP we don't call each other step or half, we just say brother and sister. But people obviously notice there are different combos of parents involved and ask, which I don't mind. But then they are bemused by simple half versus step, or mix them up.

I think people just don’t think before replying about the fact that the OPs step child isn’t their child’s step sibling

They see the word step in the OP and it sticks

I have step sisters but refer to them as (father's wife's name)'s daughters.

It's probably because many people don't understand the difference and think that step and half mean the same thing. Remember Shannon Matthews' mother? She referred to two of her seven children as "the twins" (despite being born a couple of years apart) because they had the same father.

My half brother is my brother.
Unlike a step-sibling, we share some genes. We didn't share our up-bringing, but he's still my brother.

People can get tangled up in family treea very easily.

I’m the only child from my parent’s marriage, but have 6 “half-siblings”. They are my brothers and sisters, as far as I’m concerned, and I get annoyed when people say “oh so they’re only half siblings” - No! They’re my brothers and sisters.

I also have 5 step-siblings (super complicated I know) and they are my step-siblings. Big difference, as far as I’m concerned anyway.