How many siblings do you have, and how close are you? How happy would you rate your childhood?

[Anonymous]

I am the youngest of 3. We all get along great! It helps that the people we married also all get along, even though they are a bit different. Everyone is in healthy, functional relationships, and are involved and loving parents. So we don't have to agree on every little nitty gritty details because our over-arching morals and values are similar.

I would have loved to have 3 kids, but after having 2 I realized I could be a better mother to just 2 children. So while deep down I wish they had a 3rd, I've made my peace. So far they seem to have a terrific relationship, but they are still little (in elementary). Helping them foster a healthy relationship is one of my key goals. They don't have to be absolute best friends, but I'd like them to friends as adults.

[Anonymous]

I'm the oldest (girl) with two younger brothers. We're pretty close in age, I was 3.5 when the youngest was born. We all live in different parts of the country but I feel like we've become somewhat closer in the past few years due to my parents' extreme decline.
I don't think we had a happy childhood because of abusive, selfish parents, not necessarily family size. I do wish I had a sister.

[Anonymous]

I’m the oldest with a brother 4 years younger and he lives abroad. I would say we are close in the sense that we deeply care about each other and chat relatively frequently via what’s app. However, physical distance in adulthood probably prevents us from being closer than we could be if we lived closer. I had overall, a happy childhood. The unhappy parts were not because of my family, but other issues that start around middle school. I have 2 kids now. I wanted 3 but DH was a hard stop at 2 for practical reasons. He’s the middle of 3 and has had a complicated relationship with his siblings. He’s in daily contact with one (overall they are very close but have their moments). The other he was close to in childhood but not close in adulthood bc this sibling has a very difficult and negative personality.

[Anonymous]

I have one sibling, a sister four years younger (I’m also a woman). We weren’t close growing up but were for ~10 or so years after I left for college. She has some fairly serious psychiatric disorders, including alcohol addiction, and we rarely talk now. Our parents have supported her for much of her adult life and she’s still ungrateful.

We had a pretty miserable childhood in some ways. Our parents fought *constantly* but didn’t divorce until we were young adults. Our maternal grandparents were close by and provided a lot of love and stability.

We have three kids; DH was one of three and liked the dynamic, I was open to it in part because I wanted more than one sibling for my kids. They’re pretty close in age and we work hard to provide them a stable, loving home. They have way more fun together than my sister and I ever did - it’s pretty cool to see.

[Anonymous]

I have 4 siblings (I’m the only girl & the middle child). I had a great childhood. We are fairly close now too, though I only see them 2-3 times a year since we live far apart. I always wanted a big family of my own, but it looks like we won’t have more than the 2 kids we have already.

[Anonymous]

No siblings, grew up in several countries, childhood was great.

[Anonymous]

2 siblings, 2 year gaps. Close as preteens, but later we had very different personalities and views on the world, family, money, everything. I talk to them on a transactional basis only.

Spouse is similar, close to his sibling when young, now they never talk.

We had good childhoods, very unstructured compared to today's kids. We have 2 kids who already are opposites, even one is a night owl and the other early riser.

[Anonymous]

Technically I have a big family... 5 siblings. But I am the only product of my mother and father and grew up completely alone, and incredibly lonely. My mother has 2 children from her first marriage, and they're both about 20 years older than me. When I think of my siblings, I think of them because they have always existed in the periphery. They all live close by and while I don't consider myself to be very emotionally close with them, I see them frequently and we are all involved in my mom's care now that she's in her 80s.

Way after my parents divorced and I was in college, my father remarried and had a new family, 3 kids, about 20+ years younger than me. My father and I are estranged and so I have pretty much zero relationship with his other kids.

I'm incredibly envious that both groups of siblings grew up together and have so many shared memories and I only have the memory of navigating a not-very-amicable divorce and custody situation all alone as a kid. My childhood was not completely awful only because of my mom who I have always been very close with.

[Anonymous]

One sibling, opposite genders, 5 years age gap. We are better now, but had a very very rough go of it for many years.

I had a great childhood. However, if you asked him, he’d talk about how horrible it was. If you talked to us separately with that question you would never assume the two people grew up in the same house. He’s the younger child.

[Anonymous]

Two younger sisters, we all live in different places now. Good childhood overall, although middle sister always has a chip on her shoulder about being less favored by our parents (or she feels this was the case, anyway) and it kind of reverberates in adulthood. She's very competitive and wants to be everyone's "favorite" but hasn't visited us in 5 years and we mainly have a friendly texting relationship. She lives in our hometown so we see her when we go to see my parents or at the occasional family vacation or event. Have always had an easier relationship with youngest sister.

[Anonymous]

How many siblings do you have? I have four sisters
What’s your birth order? I'm in the middle
How close are you? We're all very close, both geographically and emotionally
Would you want more or the same number of siblings, fewer siblings or more for kids as an adult? Or no kids? All of us have either three or four children.
How happy would you rate your childhood? Very happy. Would recommend.

[Anonymous]

I have an older brother (12 years difference), we are absolutely not close. This person told a 7 yo me at MY birthday that he was surprised I turned out normal considering our mother tried to abort me several times. Lovely human being. There were several other issues but this really stuck with me. Our mother did not deny what he said. To the outsiders, we seemed like an exemplary family, UMC, nice home, but behind closed doors there was emotional and verbal abuse, outright hatred towards an unwanted child.

[Anonymous]

One sibling, I'm the oldest, we are not at all close and never have been. I think I had a happy childhood, with loving and supportive parents.

[Anonymous]

2 siblings. I am the eldest and female. 2nd child is male 5 years younger than me. 3rd child is male 13 years younger than me—same parents.
I also have a half-sibling on my father's side who is 20 years younger than me and with whom I have no contact.

My childhood was idyllic until about 10 and then it was a train wreck until graduation/at 18. My siblings and I are not in daily contact but I would rescue them from a burning building and love them fiercely. We share similar joys and traumas albeit at different phases in our lives. It made us very protective and supportive of one another but we are 3 very distinct people who each are dealing with our own issues from 10-18 (for me), 5-18 for my brother (who bore the brunt of my Dad), and birth onward for my youngest brother. I had to grow up too quickly. My middle brother has chronic health issues and is an addict. My youngest brother will be the most successful of all of us and 100% tells us that watching us make our mistakes helped him . All of us have low-mid-range ACE scores with my middle brother being the highest scoring.

My childhood was extremely happy and I was free-range 80s parented but it bordered on neglect when my Dad was in charge. With that said, I was fed (mostly), clothed, and had wonderful opportunities/exposures due to my Dad's workplace. The only one to attend a private school so my early education was phenomenal. I was raised near water and spent whole days outside swimming, sailing, tubing, water skiing, playing sports, etc. I had lots of adults who cared for me outside of my home and luckily, my very wealthy friend's parents did not mind their children being friends with a ragamuffin. I also had a lot of contact with my grandparents who were a stabilizing force throughout my entire childhood. They are likely the only reason I am not in jail or worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 siblings. I am the eldest and female. 2nd child is male 5 years younger than me. 3rd child is male 13 years younger than me—same parents.
I also have a half-sibling on my father's side who is 20 years younger than me and with whom I have no contact.

My childhood was idyllic until about 10 and then it was a train wreck until graduation/at 18. My siblings and I are not in daily contact but I would rescue them from a burning building and love them fiercely. We share similar joys and traumas albeit at different phases in our lives. It made us very protective and supportive of one another but we are 3 very distinct people who each are dealing with our own issues from 10-18 (for me), 5-18 for my brother (who bore the brunt of my Dad), and birth onward for my youngest brother. I had to grow up too quickly. My middle brother has chronic health issues and is an addict. My youngest brother will be the most successful of all of us and 100% tells us that watching us make our mistakes helped him . All of us have low-mid-range ACE scores with my middle brother being the highest scoring.

My childhood was extremely happy and I was free-range 80s parented but it bordered on neglect when my Dad was in charge. With that said, I was fed (mostly), clothed, and had wonderful opportunities/exposures due to my Dad's workplace. The only one to attend a private school so my early education was phenomenal. I was raised near water and spent whole days outside swimming, sailing, tubing, water skiing, playing sports, etc. I had lots of adults who cared for me outside of my home and luckily, my very wealthy friend's parents did not mind their children being friends with a ragamuffin. I also had a lot of contact with my grandparents who were a stabilizing force throughout my entire childhood. They are likely the only reason I am not in jail or worse.

Additionally, I have one child and am the only one married. Neither of my siblings will have children/more children- 99% confident of that. One will never get married or be in a LTR. He does have a child that was adopted when he was a teenager. I don't know if he/she will ever contact my brother. The other is in a LTR but will likely never marry. I may have one more child but on the fence.