Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

HUGE age gap between siblings

A friend of mine who is about to turn 20 has just found out that her mother is pregnant, and I was wondering if anybody has a similar experience. What is it like to have a sibling much younger/older than you?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

DiZZeeKiD

I know people who are in their 20's and have siblings in their 40's....I just imagine you wouldn't have as much of a close bond as other siblings, as you'd have less in common, wouldn't necessarily grow up in the same house together - by the time that kids in their teens their brother/sister will probably have their own family etc.

Personally wouldn't enjoy it if my mum had another kid now.....

Reply 2

hash007

My uncle is younger than his cousin.

Reply 3

cambio wechsel

Original post by hash007

My uncle is younger than his cousin.

possibly I am your uncle, since I am younger than several of my cousins.

Reply 4

Cybele

I'd hate it if my siblings were in a different generation to me. :no:

Reply 5

charlotteb08

I've got 3 siblings that are much older - being 14, 15 and 17 years older than myself. I then also have a sister who is a year younger than me. I absolutely love having the older siblings. When I was growing up it was great for them to take me out to places for the day without my mum and dad. It is however, a completely different relationship to what I have with my sister my age. The 3 elder ones are now all married with children, and personally I think it's really nice. I know I can always ask them things knowing that they have gone through similar things quite recently - things you wouldn't necessarily want to talk to your parents about! I am still really close to them despite not seeing much of them, it's just not the usual sibling relationship

Reply 6

CoffeeStinks

Original post by hash007

My uncle is younger than his cousin.

It would make more sense if you said that your uncle is younger than your cousin.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 7

Pedrobear

i'm 18 and my big sister is 30

my experience with this is that when you're growing up there's distance and misunderstanding due to the age difference and it kind of sucks but when you then get to my age you come to appreciate having someone experienced to speak to and look up to. as soon as mid adolescence set in i went from being indifferent with my sister to closer than i am with anyone else.

real talk

Reply 8

snufkin_

Theres a 17 year age gap betwee me and my siblings. I love having younger siblings, it makes things like christmas fun again (!) It does make the family situations quite strained at times, but I love it. I think I probably have a more parentalish bond with my siblings then an older sibling bond, but it's nice to be that close. I don't know what it will be like when their teenagers, but I can imagine it will be quite nice. When my mum gets too much for them they can come and talk to me!

Reply 9

aarora

I'm 17 and my brother is 9. I find him SO irritating, he never leaves me alone, he always wants me to play with him!!

Reply 10

Disenchanted

My boyfriend is 21 and his siblings are in their late 30s, so they were 15/16 when he was a baby. He didn't mind it as much because they have moved out by the time he was 8. But then that meant it was just him and his mother so he had to do loads of the housework with no siblings to help spread the workload :P

Reply 11

littleshambles

There is a 15 year age gap between my elder sister and my younger brother. She's more of a "maternal" kind of sister than anything, although she is with me too (five years my senior) just because she's the eldest and is generally quite motherly and fussy anyway.

Reply 12

Horsedobbin

Original post by Disenchanted

Just get the older ones to go into suspended animation in liquid helium for a few years to even things up a bit.
Problem solved, simples

Reply 13

strawberry

I have a friend who is the youngest in her family with six older siblings. She's 22, and her eldest sibling is in their 30s or so. She's closest to her sister, the sixth child.

Reply 14

OceanSoul

My siblings each have close age gaps (we're 5). Moi, the eldest and my youngest sibling have 10 years gap between each other. Don't really see a problem with it. She's not any less annoying than my other siblings. But 20 years age gap, wow. That actually sounds nice! But I doubt my mother will go for a 6th child at this age :biggrin:

(willingly).

Reply 15

Gavzzz

Im 25 and my sis is 7, no biggie really. She is one of the most presious things in my life and I don't care that she is so much younger than me. Im like Dad No. 2 in a strange kind of way. :smile:

Reply 16

Crazy Paving

I don't understand this, I mean people have children who all get to 18 or whatever, and then decide to have another one. :erm:

There's 2 years between each of myself, my brother and sister (so 4 between my sister and I) and I am happy with that age gap, and thought it was fine. But, it's their choice, I personally wouldn't want to be having children 20 years after another (then of course, accidents happen).

Oh yeah, and my friend is younger than her niece because of this kind of occurence.

Reply 17

minimus777

I'm 16, i have two sisters who are 19, a brother who is 31 and a sister who is nearly 35. It's not weird for me at all, i love them all to bits :smile:

I suppose i do have a different kind of relationship with my brother and sister who are a lot older than me, but that's fine. Just like you have a different relationship with your siblings / cousins / friends / family friends / parents, but you can still love them all :smile:

Spoiler

Reply 18

big-boss-91

Original post by Dogatonic

i have a sister that is 30 when I'm 19 now. she is a narcissist bitch who loves attention because she works in law and thinks she's better than me since she got a "proper" job when I'm going for a career in films.

yeah the age gap is not good. she was used to getting the attention from my parents until i arrived and hated me since. although she loves my younger brother because they got a common interest in hating me.

she told me on many occasions that i need to die and blah blah, now i moved to cardiff 300 miles away. she's happy now

Reply 19

aja89

My mum has a half-brother who is a year younger than me because her dad f*cked off before I was born, but they only met once at his funeral so she doesn't have any kind of bond with him. She does say that it feels weird to have a brother that was born after her own daughter though.