Is anyone here much younger than their siblings?

[paolosgirl]

If so - how was it when you were growing up, and how is it now? Do you ever feel you missed out in some way? DS2 is 8 years younger than DD and 10 yrs younger than DS1, which is not much in the overall scheme of things, but it does make me worry sometimes.

I'm speaking from the older perspective. My brothers may view things differently.
I'm 6 years older than 1 brother and 9 years older than the other.
Me and the youngest are really quite close considering the age gap. I virtually raised him. Tax credits and what not didn't exist so Mum had to work.
Me and the middle still butt heads although that me be to our personalities.

Not personally but a really good friend of mine has a 6 year age gap between one sister and a 10 year gap with the other. I think she felt she did miss out when she was young but now its great as her kids are more or less same age as the 6 year older sister and 10 year older sister's kids (who are in their 20s now) come and stay with her all the time! They are all really close.

Do any of you feel you missed out in any way (not really what I mean by that...)?

my nan had 7 kids there ages range between 50 and 27, im 1 of 5 my eldest sis is 27 and my youngest sis 16
i get on better with my eldest sister (6yr older) than my sister who are two yrs either side of my age me and my youngest sis(5yrs younger) have ok relationship now
when we were small it was opposite way round hth

my sister is 10 years older than me and my brother 13 years older

When I was very little, it was great, as they spent loads of time with me, taught me to read/count etc. extra early, and also turned me into 'Baby Giorgio, the circus child' (i.e. tried to make me do 'tricks').

then there was a period when I was obviously a pain in the arse to my sister, when she was about 17/18 onwards, and long periods where they were both at university and so it was like being an only child for me for quite a while. My parents used to travel a bit for my dad's work and often my sister and brother would look after me; they came to a few parents' evenings (the shame) and were there to see me get my scholarship when my parents were away. So sometimes it's been a bit difficult getting them to see me as a sibling rather than as a child, and getting seen as 'equal'

However, in many ways that was very good for me. I had to learn how to hold my own in an 'adult' conversation pretty early on, and how to fit in with older people and not appear childish, and how to argue!

I don't think I've missed out. There's no guarantee as to how well you get on with your siblings whatever the age gap is. I feel like I've had an insight into what it's like to be an only child as well. I get on very well with them now and although I'm still very much the little sister I think they've accepted me as a grown up now I'm 33 with 2 children...seriously, the age gap seems so much smaller now that we're all proper grown ups. Obviously, it was huge when I was say 8 and they were 18 and 21, but it all sorts itself out.

I'm 14 and 11 years younger than my sisters. In some ways it feels like the best of both worlds . I didn;t experience much sibling rivalry and arguing, as we were clearly interested in different things. But I enjoy the closeness of sibling relationships. this has become really important as my parents died when I was 20, so it's lovely to still have close family who have more and different life experiences to me.

I'm now reasonably close to one sister, less so the oldest one. But I think that's a personality thing, rather than because of our ages.

One brilliant advantage was that I was free to babysit my sister's children when they were small, as I was free and single. Now her children are older and more independent, so she 's free to come round and help me with my 10mth old!

My dad has 10 children, the eldaest is mid 40s, the youngest is 15, but I dont know them.

Not personally but DP is youngest of 4, with the first 3 being close in age then big gap and DP as an afterthought!
He says there weren't any real issues for him while growing up (apart from feeling a bit like an only child!). He reckons his older siblings used to get pretty pissed off with him at times though, especially when they hit the teenage phase and he was an irritating little kid! He also believes it was quite tough for his parents, because although he was indulged as the baby of the family, and always knew he was loved, he says it kind of put his parents lives on hold ie- just when they reached the stage of older ones being independent, they were still having to do the 'child' stuff with him IYSWIM.So, to sum up - no problem for the youngest one, but maybe for the older ones.

It was quite a shock for me when my brothers (9 & 11 yrs older) left home when I was 10. The house went from being full of noisy teenagers to just me and it was quite hard - not helped by a transfer to a senior school a distance from our house and where non of my local friends went. On the plus side when I was younger I was spoilt rotten!

yes, I have four sisters who are between seven and fourteen years older than me.
when I was growing up I loved it, as I was often in adult and interesting company, but it was an unusual childhood I think. not much playing with toys etc. I never really believed in FC for example but I got into lots of teenage things quite early e.g. my musical tastes were quite advanced!
in lots of ways I was like an only child, I didn't have a sibling ot play with, but that suited me fine, I did lots of reading and don't mind spending time by myself.
I am very close to two of my sisters, the eldest in particular was like a mother to me.
as we were gorwing up it was a little difficult when I was a teenager as I think they found me a little exasperating.
I missed them hugely when they left home BUT (unexpected bonus!) I was very involved in the lives of their children when they were young and am very close to several of my nephews and nieces even now.
these days I am still very close to three of my sisters and get on well with all of them. now they are in their forties and fifties the gap means nothing really, and I have really valued their advice about parenting in particular

My sister was 9 and my brother was 7 when I was born. I remember at about the age of 3 or 4 being very jealous that they'd be playing out in the garden together on summer evenings and I'd be in bed! As they were growing up, they definitely had a stronger bond between them, as they had things in common and were into the same kind of stuff whereas the age gap was just too big for me to join in. Family holidays were probably the hardest thing as once I got to about 6 and my parents started doing the camping and seaside holidays for me, my sister and brother were bored witless and at times made it plain that they thought it was my fault which was a little unfair! I think it probably influenced me in my decision to have my 3 kids close together, as I didn't want to have to go back to the baby phase all over again and try to juggle this with the older child/teenager phase. Having said all that, i get on fine with my sister and brother now we're all grown ups. I think it helps that my sister got married and had children at an older age than me, so even though there's a big age gap between us, our children are fairly close in age.

Thanks for all the posts here . DS2 was a big surprise, and although it's fab to have a baby in the house again I'm aware that there could potentially be drawbacks - esp. as there is less than 2 years between DS1 and DD, so they've always been more or less at the same stage.

They adore their little brother, so I'm hoping that it will continue - and that there will be plenty of babysitters around in a few years time as a result, so that DH and I can get out on our own more.

i am 37.
my brother is 3.

work that one out

Wow - now THAT'S an age gap!

I was going to start a similar thread

Our older children were 21, 19, 17 and 15 when DD2 was born in March. I'm wondering how she'll fare as an "only".

Did those of you with big gaps have same-age cousins? All my nephews and niece are 20+

yes, my son is 4 so he has an uncle who is younger than him!

we should go on Jeremy vile / jerry springer or such like!

I have one brother 12 years older and one who is 10 years older. I am very close to both of them, particularly the oldest one. I do feel that I had the experience of growing up as an only child in some ways and at times it felt as if I had 3 fathers in my rebellious teenage years. The one thing I really hated was going on vacation with my parents after my brothers moved out. Very boring! And bringing a friend didn;t really help as sometimes they didn't exactly work out IYKWIM.

Now that we are older the age thing doesn't matter at all and we relate to each other simply as adults.

Oh, and since I had my children "later in life", lol, my kids are closer in age to my great-nieces/nephews. They call their first cousins "Uncle-Cousin Tom", etc.

Interesting article here in Guardian family recently on this very topic!

My sisters are 18 and 20 years older than I am. I was the successful attempt by my father to ruin my mother's revitalised career!

I enjoyed having big sisters, and nieces and nephews not much younger than me, but I also had the advantages that come with being an only child, and with parents who were much more liberal second time around.

yes, that was a great benefit for me too, parents were much more relaxed with me esp as a teenager. no pressure re getting married etc.
IO think the relationship with my nephews and nieces is the biggest bonus. that is very precious

my brother is 12 years older than me and my brother 15 years older. I am -and have always been close to my brother, he has been the big protective brother but we have similar personalities and we have a good laugh together and always ask each other first if we need help with anything. Sister and i were great from her getting married when i was ten - i used to go and stay at their house a lot (most peoples idea of awful having kid sis to stay but we all enjoyed it!!) more recently she fell out with my mum and i don't see her so much, tho i'm not involved in the quarrel i think she resents my mum for having me - as she was the 'little girl' for nearly 13 years then i turned up... though strangely she has no problem with me
Whatever the age gap i think it is all a personality thing. my children are quite close in age, now 7,4 and almost 2, and the first two have nothing in common except for sharing a bedroom, but both get on well with little sister.

I was the baby of the family. 3rd of 3 girls.

I was fine with it.
There is 10 yrs between me and the next older one and 13years from me and eldest.

My biggest sister is my best mate. I love her to bits. The middle one has always been a bit odd, obsessive compulsive type. I dont see eye to eye with her.

am 8 yrs younger than my brother, 6 years younger than my sister.

Loved it, and still do - wouldn't be any other way. anything negative in my childhood would have been there anyway tbh. it was particularly great that my parents could no longer be bothered to be strict - i got away with absolute murder and thrived on it!