General Chat

Have never got on with my sister, I'm afraid. She resented me when i was a child and nothing has changed. Now we live 12000 miles apart and i know that once my mum has gone, we will probably never have anything to do with each other again. Its sad and I have wished it were diferent for years, but its not going to chnage, I'm afraid.

Sadly, no. I have two younger brothers who do not really bother to keep in touch now altho we were close when we were young. Both are very well off now and so from one I get what I call the charity bag at Christmas - wine, chocs and a shopping voucher - the other sends out printed formal cards (even used to send them to my parents) and even tho I try to keep them up to date with family news, they are not really bothered. I gave up with sending them Christmas gifts, as when my son rang to say thankyou for his present(when he was small) they would say 'thanks for your present, we haven't opened it yet but I am sure it is nice' but they never rang back again to say if they liked it. Eventually I asked them to stop buying me anything as I obviously wasn't getting it right with them so would rather not bother. That 's when I started getting the charity bag. Neither of them have ever really been there for me since they married, and have not done much for my son. One has no children but does loads for his godchildren (think his mates only chose him cos he's well off). He never had my son over for a day when he was younger or anything like that, and the other brother used to sell me his son's cast off clothes as I was a single mother. I can live without them but feel sad we aren't as close as some families especially now my parents aren't around. Good thing I have some good friends.

Not yet .....I am the only survivor of six. Len

i dont know what i would do if i lost one of my brothers or sisters, its amazing how people cope xxxx

I get the impression my older sister found being an unpaid babysiter annoying. She is ten years older. We didn't fight because she avoided me whenever possible when I was little. When I left home, I happened to move near her and she kept an eye on me, whether I wanted it or not. Now, ten years on again, even though we live 5 hours drive away, we are best friends. She has no children and her and her husband are devoted to my girls. I love my older brother, and hated him with the intensity of childhood at times. He was the tease. We see him perhaps twice a year. It used to be Christmas only at my Mum's. He leads a different life. RW

I'm not particularly close to any of my siblings. They're all much older than me (between 9-11 years), and we're not at all alike. I used to go out and play snooker with my brothers, but gave that up a couple of years ago, and don't see that much of them anymore. I'm closer to my neice, who is more like a little sister.

i don't have any so no problems,my other half is one of 12 and none of them get on, my two fight like cat and dog,i just hope they do like each other as they get older K

Yes I am just as close to my sister (who is five years my junior )now as I was when I was younger, although we did have the odd fight and argument then ,but we have become closer in a different way as we have got older mainly due to our kids, but we both have the same wicked sense of humour and seem to know what each other is thinking more, the only shame about it is now, is that she lives two thousand miles away ,although we do speak most days via msn and webcam. Marie

thank you for all your replies. I can understand why someof you dont talk to your siblings or arent as close anymore, but i like what Jess said about life being too short. My mum and nan used to use shock tactics to stop us fighting. They would say imagine if Steph/John got hit by a bus and the last thing you said to him/her was horrible, how would you feel. So even if we had a massive ow we would never leave the house or say goodbye without saying sorry and having a hug !!! xxx

As one of the 'babie's my older sisters made a fuss of me and still do, I love them all and would be very hurt if I lost contact. Heather

No, and I wouldn't want to be. My brother is many years my senior and always resented me. He treated me badly throughout my childhood and, as a result, we've never really got on as adults. We may be siblings, but we don't like each other, and I no longer keep in touch with him. >*|*<

my sis is 20 months older than me but we are like chalk and cheese. Mum used to wish we would just fight but we were sarcastic to each other. Thought when I moved up here and only 10 mins from her would see more of her but don't which is a shame she has her own interests and is always out and about and I am at home most of the time doing the mumsy things with the children.

As kids we three fought like cats! My older brother moved to Aussie, and we kept contact although it was sporadic. Little bro and I kept fairly close contact - difficult because i dont like his wife.However , she is the mother of my cherished neice and nephew so I put up and shut up most of the time. When there were 3 of us it didnt seem that important.Now there are only two of us(my older brother died) we decided that life was too short and that whatever happened we would stay close. Earlier this year my sister in law did something which hurt my parents beyond repair - My brother -in defending his wife, decided he would cut ties- and as i told him, you can walk but i'l always follow and be there for you, because you are my brother and I love you, what ever has happened. Those of you that have fallen out with your siblings ...remember how short life is, far too short for regrets jess

Hi Steedie My sister who is 15 years younger than me is my best friend and we are very close. I see her at least twice a week and we phone each other a couple of times a week also. My brother that died last year I was also very close too.(I miss him like crazy) I have two other brothers who I only see at Christmas and odd occasions but that is mainly because of distance. We always were a close knit family but sometimes distance can stop you from seeing your siblings. It isn't that we don't care it's just circumstances don't always allow it. We still all love each other very much and if one of us has a problem I know they would all be there for each other has happened in the past. Nice thread Steedie Regards Jackie

I think I appreciate my younger brother more because we only met for the first time 2 years ago (I was adopted and he was my birth mother's next child). We have a silly joke about us being brother and sister but never having shared a bath together as children lol! I was very touched last week because he had a difficult situation and I was the person he came to - literally (by train!). We have become very close this last year and I know that we will have a good relationship for life. Mandy :)

Never been close to them as I don't have any lol xxhugxx

There's five years difference between Jon and me but it has no relevance as we're closer these days than during say when I was in my mid-teens and he was a annoying little sprog. Now, he's just a annoying, big $!#?* lol

Never was close to my sister - she has told me recently when I arrived she thought 'huh, why does it have to be in MY room'. My brother used to either ignore me or be horrible to me, but now we get on ok. And my eldest brother, who used to protect me from the other two sometimes, is gone. :-(

My only sibling, my brother and I used to be very close when we were younger. Think we were particularly close as my Mum died when I was 14 and he was 12. But he joined the RAF, and has lived all over the world, so we don't see each other too often, As people said, once you get married, you have your own family and don't tend to hear from each other so often, Different with my husband and his sisters, they live locally and they are all still very close to each other. Christine

me and my sister have 11 months between us, we never got on then and we dont now, although we dont have fist fights now :-)) my brother is 2 years younger and we are quite close