here is a totally different spin on it there are 7 years between me and my sister she is older, growing up we fought like ct and dog because i wanted her to play with me and my dolls etc but also wanted to go out with her which i wasnt allowed to do. BUT since adult hood we are the best of friends call each other twice a week and go out at least once a month with the girls xx

now my sister is adopted - she is really my couson (long story) but i have never and will never think of her as anything other than my sister xx

I have 2 'half' sisters who are 8 and 10 years younger than me so i guess i somewhere in the middle of this argument as i spent my youngest years as an only child and had siblings much later.

First off i dont think of my sisters as half they are just my sisters. Only once was it ever thrown at me by my middle sis who can be a nasty cow when the mood takes her and i went so mental she never bothered again as she worked out she had actually gone beyond sibling bickering and really hurt me.

Secondly i think its more to do with upbringing. I never really felt i suffered for spending y 1st 8 years alone as i had my parents undivided attnetion and spent a lot of time with other children and am quite self sufficient. Once my sisters did come along i spent a lot of my teens caring for them when my parents were at work and resented it. But then i am also glad i have them around as i have social support and particularly with my youngest sister they have become good friends.

I think whatever you decide will be right, initially i wasnt going to have anymore and i still stand by the fact that if i hadnt changed my mind C wouldnt have suffered for that but now i am she will get that relationship but thats not to say she will always like it

i am the eldest of 7 girls. i sometimes think if there was a boy thrown in there we might have got on better. im a bit of an outcast because i did everything for my self. the sister below me is married and isnt as close to me as we were as kids. my 21 yr old sister is very close to my 24yr old sister. they do have babies now. as kids it used to be me, annie and heather stomping about. then i got older, ran with boys in cars and it was annie, heather and janey ruth was always the baby. kat and sarah are my dads 2nd marrige kids. no ones close to them ne more. the only down side id say was personal space, growing up in a 4 bed house with 4 younger sisters. as a parent. my 2 oldest are joined at the hip, they fight like cat and dog at times being a boy and girl mix but they are also best friends and are so in sync with each other. my 5yr old is a we bit of a loner, thats my fault. for a while it was just me and him, for 3yrs. till almost 2 yr old came along. they do get on well but the age gap is just too large. 2yr old wants to do thing 5yr old does and its making him a rougher player, more adult in his behaviour and throwing up problems with general behaviour. he sees his bigger brother doing it and he wants to do it. if i could go back and do it again, id have a yr gap between them all.

i am the middle child of 3, my sister is 15 months older then me, and my brother is 4 years younger then me.
i hated being one of three, my sister is a very very hard person to live with, so we absoloutly hated each other and had nothing in common most our lives until she went away to uni, then we got on a bit better i used to go stay with her etc, and now i live with my oh and see her maybe once every 2/3 weeks we get on fine lol.
I dont not get on with my brother, but i dont get on with him either, he lives with my mum, so does my sis and we see them when we pop round and that but thats about as much contact as i have with my bro cos we just dont have anything in common.
i hated being the middle child too, but i think that was more to do with the fact my dad hated me growing up so he made my life not very nice but left my brother and sister alone. so its prob more to do with him then having siblings!
Tbh i wouldn't have wanted to be an only child tho because i have 2 close friends and in the nicest way possible they are spoilt. They both expect life to be handed to them on a plate all nicely groomed, they get themselves into mess and their parents are their five minutes later paying them out of it. Im not for a minute saying every only child is like this but this is my experience of being an only child!
Funnily enough thinking about it neither of them are only children really, both of them have siblings, but 10 years + older then them and not living with them since being about 9/10.

i obviously have two children, the same age gap as me and my sister and i feel like i'm done now, if we are really well off in say 5/6 years i may consider another but at the moment i dont feel i need any more children. The only wish i have about having children so close in age is i want to be able to provide them with their own space, a room each, by the time they are 4/5.
x

I have a brother who is 18 months older than me and I love him to bits. I am so glad that we have eachother (even though he now lives in LA).

I also have step brothers... 13 years and 10 years older than me, and also one who is 18 months younger than me. They have been in my life since I was 6 (apart from the younger one - long story) and they are like proper brothers to me, even though we dont have the same parents.

x

I have an older brother - he's 2 years older than me and although we squabbled when we were growing up we were always close, in fact I would actually rather play with him and his friends when we were little than my own friends. As alot of you know though things have deteriorated terribly over the last few months and I havent seen him since May last year and I am absolutley devastated about it, I always wanted Libby to know her uncle as I never really did mine.

I always said when ttc with Libby that we would have just one, but then thinking back on my childhood - I would of been lost without Kev as we moved around a hell of alot as dad was in the army.

I'm actually really upset typing all this, I didnt realise til now just how much I miss Kev, but I just dont know what to do xxx

i have a older brother who is 19 years older than me. so it was like i was a only child as he moved out of home when i was small..

i would of liked a brother or sister nearer my age.. but i thinki would of had loads of fights n what not x

Thanks ladies lots of food for thought.

This year isn't an option anyway because of my job but might have to think about it more seriously next year.

OH and I have difficult relationships with our siblings. My sister is 2 years younger and I was horrible to her until I was 30 because I was jealous of the attention she took from me and our relationship will always be strained because of the history (on the surface it is fine but the resentment she has is always there, fortunately our children adore each other so we are forced to put our relationship on one side).

OH's siblings are 8 and 10 years older than him and unless he makes the effort we don't see them. They don't live near us, we have very little in common and their children are much older there isn't much to go on with them so we are gradually making less and less effort with them.

I do think about the issue of being an only one for the points about caring for elderly parents or offering your own children an extended family (my dad is one of 9 and I have a fab extended family as a result).

I will wait until my job is made permanent (12 month contract at the moment) then think about it again.

i have 2 younger sisters, one 3 years younger and one 5 years younger.
we had a love hate relationship as kids...as most siblings probibly do when we got on we got on really well but when we didnt we hated each other.
now i get along with my middle sister great, we go out together and actually enjoy spending time together. my youngest sister can be a pain in the arse and she seems to think the world owes her a favor, but we would always be there for each other if needed be, as im sure them 2 would be there for each other if need be, even though they hate each other, they can be civil if needs be. its kinda like 'no one can shit on my sister except me'

i always wanted more than one, i love watching my boys play together, even argue already! id have definatley liked more siblings for them, but i will just have to wait see what the future holds for me for now x

I think thats sensible to reconsider in a year. I can imagine it would be a tough decision for you to make. For me I don't think I ever considered not having 2children. But I am really close to my sister and although pregnancy had a few problems it was ok and I had a simple birth.
My sister is 2years older than me, and she's always been my best friend. We argued a lot sure but we were always close. I can't imagine family events, when you're stuck in a room with relatives you barely know/like without my sister there, also family holidays, going through hard times etc. I can't imagine my sister not being there with me. But that is just my personal experience and I only wish my children be so close.

I've got a sister who is two years younger! We fought all through our childhood but also always had company. We're very close now and so are our kids which is so nice.

I've got 3 with huge age gaps and it's great I would have loved loads of kids but it never happened. Our house is a mad house but great, it's so noisy when they're all in but great fun.

I think kids can learn an awful lot from their siblings including how to share and how to biatch and fight! Which are all valuable skills to have.

x

Im the eldest of 5 i have 3sisters 2 are twins and a brother x
We all get on quite well always arguments and fights but nothing major. now as there 4 girls all above the age of 15 its become quite bitchy and whos hairs better and clothes etc im old enough to keep out of it x

I would of liked callum to have had a closer brother or sister but i just cudnt of coped of yet x