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

[Anonymous]

Middle of three kids. Very happy child. Closest to youngest sibling (same gender, live near each other) but get along fine with older one (opposite gender, live far away). I have three kids and likely won’t have a fourth. So far all three are very close.

[Anonymous]

3 Bros and 3 sisters. Have no relationship with any of them. It’s complicated.

I think there is hope of having a relationship after my mentally unstable, lying mother passes away.

[Anonymous]

One younger sister. Love each other a lot. Care for each other. Childhood was from 10 to minus 20 depending on how insane or nice parents were that day.

[Anonymous]

Three sisters, all older. Six brothers, three older. Life was hell. No running water. Indescribable squalor and filth. Never speak with any of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three sisters, all older. Six brothers, three older. Life was hell. No running water. Indescribable squalor and filth. Never speak with any of them.

I have never known a family with many children that do not suffer from some sort of neglect. I am so sorry this happened to you.

[Anonymous]

One younger sister, I am female, 2 years apart, and we had a happy and carefree childhood. And, I still cannot stand my sister. She was a bratty, self-important know it all then, and she still is

[Anonymous]

I am the 3rd of 4 kids. Older brother, older sister, and one younger brother. Age difference is 10 years between oldest and youngest. We generally had a happy childhood but as adults, I’m only close with my sister. She lives nearby. Brothers live in Midwest near parents. I talk to them a few times a year. Our lives are completely different and we have almost nothing in common other than somehow having the same parents. I was close with older brother when we were kids but we grew apart once I moved away. Brothers are both struggling to support themselves and one lives with our parents. Neither seem to have any life skills.

[Anonymous]

1 sister. I’m the oldest. Happy childhood.
We mostly talk / see each other when I go home to see my folks so we aren’t super close but we get along and enjoy each other.

Would have wanted the same childhood I had or at most one more sibling.

I now have two kids.

[Anonymous]

1 sibling. We are kind of close but have many ups and downs. Very happy childhood, we both agree.

[Anonymous]

Three siblings. Not close. We'll always have each other's back, but not close. Tough childhood due to financial insecurity. It was good I had siblings to diffuse my parents' aspirations for us which were basically their efforts to relive the lives they wished they had.

[Anonymous]

1 sibling, younger brother. We have a great relationship as adults, but when we were younger we weren't particularly close. On the other hand, he tells people that I raised him - with immigrant parents working a lot, I guess we had to stick together. I was a teenager and took him everywhere I went with my friends, and sometimes on dates. It felt kind of cruel to leave him home alone.

Seeing how it turned out, I think I'd want a few more siblings like him. I have 3 kids, he has only one child and really wants more. Hopefully it will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One sibling, 2 years apart. Not close as kids or now. Sibling has some mental / emotional regulation issues that are very difficult for me to be around. I put up with a tense phone call once every couple of months, and one "pretend everything is great" meeting at our parent's house every couple of years. We mostly keep in touch through emails with the whole family about superficial stuff, I avoid 1:1 contact as much as possible. I dread having to work together on aging parent issues.

Forgot to address the rest of question ... Sibling aside, I had a very happy childhood. Parents were (and are) great, except for having their heads in the sand on sibling's issues.

+1. This is me. I’m pretty estranged from my younger sister for the same reason and the same way. Except childhood wasn’t great…father vasilating between being disengaged and verbally abusive. Ive long worked thru issues with my parents and they are pretty present in our lives even though (or because) we live a plane ride away.

I myself have two teens, older girl and younger boy and they benefit from being raised in a low conflict home by parents who enjoy getting to know them as individuals, not extensions of ourselves. They get along pretty well. I have hopes for them to have a good relationship in their future. I really do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

This sounds so beautiful! Lucky you!

[Anonymous]

7 children, 4 girls, three boys. I am 3rd from oldest. Dysfunctional alcoholic home. Free range/neglectful home. Only reason anyone survived was due to a wonderful loving Mother. Father drinking all the time. He drank his weekly salary so not enough food, clothing for anyone. Two siblings have passed away and and have nice relationship with two sisters, none with brothers.
I was a survivor, and now have a nice life with wonderful husband and three children who are close. I would not wish most parts of my childhood on anyone. Lucky I made it out. I had wonderful grandparents and a wonderful great aunt. I had no idea what a normal family was like until I babysat as a teen for many wonderful families. Lucky for me. I bought all my own clothes from 4th grade on and helped younger siblings as much as I could.
When I look back over my childhood, I feel sad for what I went through, but it was what it was. Today, beautiful for me, my siblings are mostly ok. Never, never would I suggest anyone to have a big family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have two, I’m the middle child. There is an 8 yr age gap between oldest and youngest child. I am close with older sib (likely because they’re same gender as I am) but not particularly close with younger sib. 9.5/10 rating.

I see this a lot with 3 siblings where 2 are close (usually the older 2) and one is not. Why do you think that is? Is the youngest opposite gender?