Reply to Having a Sibling is Overrated

Forum Index » Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers

Reply to "Having a Sibling is Overrated"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I grew up with a pretty good relationship with my sister, but still think that at the end of the day, the sibling relationship is in and of itself completely overrated. I would say about half the people I know do not get along with their sibling, or estranged from them. Just because you got along as kids, doesn't mean they will as adults and visa versa. Many factors play into this, and parents especially have no control over it. My sister lives overseas, and I would say we see each other once a year, talk maybe a few times a year, mostly because it feels like an obligation. If there is an emergency, my friends who live close and who I've never taken for granted in terms of being there for me, are the ones whom I rely upon. And, over time, they have become more like family to me in the practical sense.

Good families are good families, and good relationships are good relationships because of what people in them make of them. Also, sometimes personalities and values of individuals do not mesh, and that can tear people apart. Larger families that appear cohesive actually have this too - there is always one or two who don't get along; it's just that they can hide it better because of the sheer number of people.  I have seen it over and over again. It's unfortunate but true. There can be many lovely moments in a sibling relationship --- but there many lovely moments in any good relationship -- not sure why people herald that relationship over others.

Also very amusing to me that people who don't get along with their siblings try to "fix" that by having multiples or spacing them a specific distance apart (lile close if the sister they didn't get along with was far apart in age, etc.) and trying to control the situation, when there are so many variables at play, including personality and gender. In my experience, I know so many friends who have sisters far apart in age who are so sure they didn't get along with their sibling because of the large age difference, when I know a whole other set who swear they didn't get along with their sisters because they were too close in age and there was too much competition. Throw in the possibility of one parent possibly favoring one over another and all the age spacing stuff goes to squat and the dynamic really changes.

I think if people want to have lots of kids, do it because you are invested in raising good, solid citizens of the world and stop focusing on trying to impose relationships on people who may not care for them. 
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics