If you have a good relationship with your opposite sex sibling(s)

[Happymorningmum]

Is there anything that your parents did that helped strengthen your bond with your opposite-sex sibling(s)? I have one of each, a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old, and I would love for them to be good friends. They are two different people and I know I can't force them, but I would appreciate any insights on what might have helped building a friendly and supportive relationship between you guys :) Thank you!

I am a woman, and I have a very good relationship with my only sibling, my older brother. He is three years older than me. We text each other every day, and call at least twice a week. We don't live close to each other anymore, but we try to visit each other twice a year.

We have always been very supportive of each other, and we have the same humour. I am not sure what has made us close, we are both close with our parents too, and we all like to spend time together! Great parents, lots of laughter and fun in our house.

One thing might be important. We had very different interests growing up (and still). He is interested in science and jazz music, and I am more interested in sports and pop music/musicals. Our parents always made sure we both got to do the things we wanted to do. Like if we were all on a trip to a city, he got to go to a jazz concert with my mother, and my father and I went to a musical. I think that was important.

I love this question. I am one of five siblings and closest to my brother who is two years younger than me. Don’t get along with my older sister at all and only so / so with my other siblings.

i wish I had a better answer but honestly, our personalities just click. We find the same things funny, like the same shows, etc. my parents say we have been best friends since birth.

I don’t think it’s something you can force but you can encourage it by just loving them both and treating them equally (no favorites!)

I'm closer to my younger brother (4 years younger) than my sister, who is in the middle. We weren't closest growing up but the big change was having children and showing a genuine interest in and affection for each others children and spending time together.

I would say don't pigeonhole them as "the boy" and "the girl". I am very close to my brother, and we were always equally expected to help with household chores/get muddy/whatever. I think this really helped

I’m 3 years older than my brother and we’re very close but we hated each other as teenagers. We never went to the same school and had very separate lives from me being 9 and him being 6 until we were about 18&15

i don’t know what my parents did particularly, my mum has always put a strong emphasis on family I suppose? I just really appreciate having a brother I love, admire, respect and feel like that is equal. I do just generally feel like we are equals

Thank you so much for your responses! It’s great to see that it’s possible for them to be close. I actually have an older brother (I’m a woman), and we don’t get along at all. I genuinely don’t know why; we’re just indifferent to each other…

I’ll make sure that we treat our kids equally, create a supportive environment as a family, and hope for the best when their personalities click, whenever that happens :)