GTKY - How many (if any) siblings do you have?

DutchLucyLu

I was just wondering: how many (if any) siblings do you have, and has that in any way affected how many children you would like to have yourself?

I have two half-sisters, but there's a huge age gap (they're 19 and 22 years older than I am, respectively) and they had already moved out when I was born. So I was basically raised an only child until my best-friend-turned-foster-sister moved in when I was 17. I kind of missed having siblings of my own age while growing up, so I'd like to have two or maybe three kids myself (though not just because I want them to have siblings).

My DH on the other hand grew up with a younger sister, a younger half-brother and a smattering of step-siblings, which definitely contributed to the fact that he feels that one child is plenty.

(We're currently at 'We'll try for one and then we'll see'.)

Fun fact: my eldest half-sister is only ten years younger than my mum! :O (My parents have a 14-year age gap and my father was a very young dad.)

Meglit89

I have one younger sister (by 18 months).  I wouldn't say having the one sister has affected how many children I want to have, but...

Most of my family (on both sides) is spread thin throughout the country.  We rarely see them.  As a result, we aren't very close.  I see my husband's family who are all relatively close (within 1.5 drive for most of them), and get together frequently.  DH also has three other siblings.  This makes me want to have four kids too.  I see how close he is with his siblings, and I want a family like that, too.  I don't want one like mine where we aren't physically or emotionally close... save for my immediate family.  

littlesocks

I have one older brother (2yrs 8mth) and my DH has one older brother (3yrs).
This has definitely contributed to us both wanting two kids. I loved having someone else to play with. But my older brother rocks. I get that not all siblings will get along.

One thing that I've also thought of is (not just the age difference but) grade difference. Growing up my brother and I were only 2 grades apart. In high school all of our friends could hang out together because it didn't feel like a big difference. My DH, on the other hand, had an older brother that was 3 grades above him and he didn't hang out with him much come high school.

Now the age gap is not even a thought, but we're old and stopped counting birthdays after 26

PibbleMom

I'm an only child and it has definitely affected my decision on having more than one child. Sometimes I'm glad im an only child, since I don't have to deal with anyone else's opinions on choices regarding my parents, or our family business. at the same time when they split up a few years ago, it was very, very difficult to handle on my own. I would like 3, DH says 2. We're starting later than I would have hoped at 32, so we'll see how long the first one takes and take it from there. I was apparently a horrible baby (colic, surgery, etc) so my mom decided no more.

sunflower071913

I have two brothers and one sister. My sister has two boys and will be ttc again soon and my oldest brother has a girl and a boy and are done having kids and the second brother has two boys and are done. Im the youngest and im closest to my youngest brother because we are closer in age. DH grew up with one sibling and for now we only want two kids because we want to be able to give them what they need and travel with them. How far apart are y'all wanting to have kids if you want more than one? We would like them 2 years apart.

MotherofBears

I have two younger brothers, one is 1.5 yrs younger and the other is 6 yrs younger (oops).  They are awesome.  I LOVE reading about the psychology of birth order, and its impact on personality, its so accurate in my experience! I am an oldest who married a youngest, (DH has an older brother).  What do you think? agree/disagree? 

Christal161

On my side of the family, I have 1 biological sister and 3 step sisters (1 from my mom/step dad & 2 from my dad/step mother). My mother always said, if she could have more kids, she would. Some how, with my step father, having kids was really hard for them. My mother would get extremely sick and the fetuse wouldn't go past 20 weeks. When my step sister was born, they were happy to finally have a healthy baby full term, till we found out at 6 months old she had cancer. She's a survivor (15 now) but discussing with us (not in full details to us as kids) they would stop trying in fear of having more miscarriages and/or sick babies. i still don't know to the full extend, but I respect they're choices and we are as happy just as happy. SO has 2 siblings. He has a bio sister and a step brother. They're brother has a huge gap in age from them, 20 years younger than SO and 13 young than his sister. It's strange to have our son and my SO's brother close in age, but they have a cousin relationship in some way. We've been thinking of having a big family, ideally 4 kids, but we want to see how things go with TTC #2 before making our decision of having more. Things do change, so we're open to whatever we can have.

PrimRoseMama

I have one twin brother.
We were adopted as a packaged deal.

My birth mother had 3 other kids though: my older half brother, our full brother, & a half sister.

If money & providing for college wasn't a big priority I'd have four or five.

GrumpyCatSaysNo

I have a younger half brother (my dad cheated) who is 2 years younger than me, and a full sister who is 3 years younger than me. We are all pretty close, but I'm closer to my sister. I planned for 2 kids and ended up with 3.

allieinbetween

I have one older and one younger brother - we're all 3 years apart.

My older brother and I fought until he had my nephew at 21 (def. not planned, but shifted his perspective on life) and ever since the 3 of us have been really tight. I love my brothers and would do anything for them. Our bond has always made me want 3 kids.

DH has 1 sister and a ton of step siblings. My SIL is.....difficult, some times to say the least. My DH and her have two very, very different views on the world. I think their relationship vs. the one I have with my brothers is what makes me want 3 kids over 2. 

dancingsunflowers06

I have one older brother (4 years older) and we have never been close. I now have two kiddos three years apart. I think it really is what you make of it. My parents didn't encourage my brother and I to hang out together or even do family outings together. He opted out a lot and they were ok with it. My family and I do everything together and I pray that is knitting my kids hearts together so they'll be closer as they grow up. Prayer has been huge for us as we have started thinking about adopting through foster care. Blessings to you on your journey!

mommato2lilmonkeys

tgrlily287

@dancingsunflowers06, I think you are so right! Both of my parents grew up with 5 kids in their families, and they were not close with their siblings. They made a conscious choice to consistently encourage us kids (also 5 of us) to be close. They did not allow any of us to opt out of going to each other's events, participating with the family, etc. Now all 5 of us are in our 20s/30s and we have never been closer!! 3 of us were in college at the same time and actually rented a house together for a year. My siblings are absolutely my best friends in life! Sounds like your kiddos will be the same

 

This of course makes me want 4/5 kids...yowza!! Trying for #1 at age 30, so we'll see...

dsmith211

I have 1 sister, 1 half brother, and 3 step siblings. DH has 3 half sisters.

This hasn't affected our decision on how many children we want to have however.

We don't want the experiences that we have had with our siblings to influence our potential children.

In terms of how many we would like to have we're taking more of a 'wait and see' approach. Most likely we would like 2 children, but we want to see how we feel after the first before we make any definite decisions.

xxkberxx

I have an older sister by 3 years. Personally, I felt the age gap was a little too big and I would like to have children closer together (maybe 2 years apart). My DH has 3 younger siblings. We haven't completely decided how many children we want. We waver between having 2 or 4. I'm weird and only like even numbers. Honestly, I think we are leaning towards having 4 children.

Ash9614

I have a younger brother (4 year gap). We are close in that we call on each other when in need and the other gets ish done. We are complete opposites though so he drives me nuts most of the time. I'm the typical first-born, following the rules and being responsible while he's the ultimate rebel.

DH is an only child baffled by our dynamic. He doesn't get how we can go weeks w/o talking and jump right in when we see/talk to each other again.

We definitely want two kids. DH has mentioned three...not sure how I feel about that yet. But we hope to knock them out back-to-back (2 years in b/t at most).

FiancB

We have a big gap as well. My older sisters are 8 years apart, then I come along another 3 after that. DH is an only child. I have no idea how many kids we want. We'll see how we feel after one. 

sonoshark88

We also have a pretty big gap-my dad remarried and started over... I'm 26, my brothers 24, than I have a half sister who's almost 13 and half brother who's 10...my hubs has 3 sisters and a recently discovered half sister...poor guy!

KadzoKimbia

Younger sister 3.25 yrs, younger brother 6.5 years. I definitely want 4 and having my sibling have larger gaps makes me want my kids code I age. I have 2 boys now who are 19months apart and just had a miscarriage which would have put our 3rd right at 19, so I kinda feel the pressure now. DH wants 3 then he says we'll see... Lucky for my I guess if our 2nd and 3rd are further apart he will be more on board with 4!! (He is one of 4 boys)

rebeccanhh87

I have a sister (5 yrs older) and a brother (4 yrs old younger) My DH has a sister (18 months younger) + he has 3 step brothers.
I've only become close with my sister & brother by my DH & his sister are real close. We only want 2 at this stage.