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I have a brother 3.5 years older and a half-brother 15 years older than I am. The oldest one was out of the house by the time I was a toddler, but we've always gotten along fine as adults. He never lifted a finger to help me with our mother, or an aunt and uncle I cared for when they were elderly. The only positive thing he did in that regard was to not complain about any decision I ever made or try to get any of their "stuff" once they were gone. And he'd tell me I was doing a good job.
My middle brother was a man-child until he was about 50 and in some ways, still is. Although he married and had a son, he lived in a house that belonged to my parents and they continued to pay for taxes, insurance and utilities on the house as long as they were mentally competent. After my father died and I took over paying bills for my mother, I "eased" him into paying his own bills. At that point, I was worried about my mother's long-term financial situation and felt like I needed to preserve as many of her assets as I could. At least he never fought me over it.
Although my mom's will provided that her assets should be divided among the three of us, my oldest brother and I signed our interests in the house over to him because we knew he'd never buy us out and it was easier than dealing with any drama. The house was not worth a lot, but he's never even acknowledged that we were generous with him. Nor has even acknowledged that if my parents hadn't supported him to the tune of hundreds of dollars a month for more than 30 years, they would have had greater assets when they died. Oh well. Life is too short to argue about money.
He also never helped with my mother unless I asked him point blank. When she moved from assisted living to a SNF-type home, I rented a truck and movers because he never offered to help (although he had a truck) and I was disgusted with him. He didn't visit her regularly until a friend of his shamed him into it.
He got divorced a few years ago and finally seems to be acting like an adult at the age of 57. He recently completed a master's degree and is trying to get a better-paying job. But he still calls and asks me basic questions about financial matters.
I love them both and I know they love me but I don't consider us close. And clearly, I'm a little resentful about how things have played out with regard to our parents.
I've got a brother who's quite a bit older than me. We were never close growing up. He never really took an interest in me - he was more interested in sport. Whenever I would try to get him to do stuff with me he would tut, sigh, roll his eyes sort of thing. I think he saw me as a pain-in-the-arse little sister.
Fast forward many years...
A few years ago he met a woman through internet dating. She was friendly with us to start off with. Then she got my brother to sell his house and move in with her. As soon as she had my brother under the thumb, she completely changed. She started running down the whole of my family. During an argument with my parents she said something very offensive about me too. So I unfriended her on FB.
Anyway, now I haven't seen my brother for over 3 years. I told him I was upset about what his wife said about me but he wasn't interested in that. He told me that his wife was upset with me for "snubbing her" when I unfriended her on FB!! They've got a kid together too, that I never see. I feel quite sorry for the child actually, having parents like that.
So as you can see, no, I don't get on with my brother!
I have 4 siblings (two brothers and two sisters), three of them are older than me.
I get along with them all although I never lived with two of them so I won't talk about them a lot. We get along just fine but I don't really see them that much so I'm obviously much more attached to the other two (which is one of my sisters, she's 8 years older than me, and my little brother who's 6 years old )
Anyway, my little brother is really important to me but as he's so young, I won't talk a lot about him either.
I'll only say that I do think it's really important to have siblings. I don't know what would my life be without them and especially my sister, the role she plays in my life is absolutely crucial and it was so especially while I was growing up... I'm not sure where I'd be right now if she wasn't in my life. I can see her faults clearly now that I'm a grown up and she absolutely has some traits I don't like but still, she's one of the most important people in my life!! We're very different people in all senses, but we always got along in an almost perfect way because we both have the capacity to accept each others faults. I think the most important thing to teach a child (when it comes to having siblings) is the best way for them to accept their diferences and use them to something positive. I'm not sure this makes sense to you guys but I hope it does.
So, overall, I think it's really important to have siblings. It teaches us a lot of important things and it makes us grow up and accept a lot of difficult things in life that only children may have a hard time to understand. And most importantly, a sibling is a friend and it will be a friend forever (at least when they get along well of course). I can't really speak for those that can't get along with their siblings because it never happened to me but I'll say that what's important is to accept your diferences. It's way better to shut up sometimes if we don't agree with something than to make of our siblings our enemies because that's not the purpose of a sibling if you know what I mean.
My other sister once said some ****ty things about me to my family because well.. she did some **** to her husband and she was trying to find someone to blame or something, I don't really know what she was trying to accomplish with that, but I knew she was a bit disoriented at the time and I just didn't care about it. Eventually, she came to her senses, and she reached out to me. So... patience, love, and understanding. I believe that's the recipe.
I'm not a mother but I do want to be a mother with all my heart and when I am, I'll absolutely have more than one kid (if I have the means to do it)
Seems being an only child has been a popular topic lately. One of the things that is brought up is how they wish they had siblings because that might change everything. It seems kind of a common answer that alot of siblings dont get along anyhow, so being an only child might not be so bad after all.
So do you get along with your brother and sisters?
I do get along with my brother an my sister. I am 6 years apart from my brother(younger) and 12 years older than my sister. We all kinda were raised like only children because of the age differance. thats especially true with my sister. Comepaired to most families I am around, my family as a whole Gets along better than most IMO.
nope...he his wife, and in-laws, are just "too good" for me, and they speak to my mom like she is a piece of crap . So, I told them all where to go.
Last edited by FlowerPower00; 10-08-2015 at 12:56 PM..
nope...he his wife, and in-laws, are just "too good" for me, and they speak to my mom like she is a piece of crap . So, I told them all where to go.
Yes, it's difficult enough trying to get on with a sibling and then they go and marry some idiot! It's happened to me too (and I wrote about it above).
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