Younger Siblings (and children)

[Zeostar]

I'm going to be an uncle soon. The excitement really hit me when I saw the ultrasound.

I've never had a younger sibling so that's probably why I felt so overjoyed.

As a result I'm also clueless about children. I was tasked with watching my 4 year old cousin and I had no idea on how to actually tell this kid 'no'. In which he figured out quickly because he kept pointing to candy and popsicles.

It was a situation in which I wasn't enthused, and turned into fondness quickly.

So I'm just wondering if anybody here has any younger siblings or cousins, (etc) what the bond is like?

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

I (sadly) have no kids in my life that are related to me, but I have on occasion watched a good friend of mine's daughter. She's a smart kid, but a stubborn one, so often when I need to tell her no, I explain to her exactly why I'm saying it. More often than not, her mom or other people who watch her rarely seem to explain things to her, or fail to do so in a way she understands. I'll even often relate it to times in my life where I have done whatever thing it is she wants to do and let her know why it didn't end up going well. Something I've noticed whenever I spend time around kids is that more often than not, just giving them the slightest bit of equal respect that adults give each other is enough for them, especially when their parents often don't. Listening to them also often goes a long way in my experience.

Good luck with being an uncle, Zeo! ^^

 

[Devalue]

Had some younger cousins growing up. Basically ignored them. Mentions a few factors to this, though:

• Lived several hours away by car. Probably saw them briefly at Thanksgiving and maybe during the summer.
• Also had a lot of cousins on that side of the family. Counts...9 in that area (with another two living even further away). Fell about in the middle of the age range. Gravitated towards the older crowd, naturally, if anyone at all.

Felt like a large group of strangers. Avoided contact as much as possible. Probably acts like that even without the above factors, to be honest.

Mentions having two nieces too. Feels mostly indifferent towards them. Knows some stuff about them, however. Easily surpasses the amount known about all the aforementioned cousins combined. Refrains from calling it total indifference, as a result.

Would be an awful parent, most likely. Knew this long, long ago.

 

[Auticorn]

I have a cousin who is like eight I think? She's really sweet, and we bond really well together. :D She tells me about stuff she's interested in etc. That's usually the best thing about most kids. They like to talk. We also play at times, like with our dolls. She's always really excited when she can see me. I get her stuff for her birthday and for Christmas every year as well. :3

I also grew up with my second cousins who were like little siblings to me. This more 90s to early 2000s or so. But, we used to play house a lot or barbies or even play outside. I'm not as close to them now since they have kids or family of their own.

 

[Palamon]

My brother is gay, and my other brother is trans. I ain't getting any nieces or nephews out of them.

Eh, I don't know what I'd say about my bond with my siblings, can't say. Pretty nothing with the first brother, second brother we're not too distant, but not close either. They both moved out a long time ago. I don't speak to my cousins, though.

 

[Nah]

I have two younger sisters, we've mostly gotten along well over the years. Majority of my cousins live in other states, so the only ones I've seen in recent years are the two that live in NJ. One I think I only met once decades ago or maybe even not at all, my mother's younger brother's (now ex-) wife kinda always hated our side of the family for some reason and would almost never bother visiting. I'm kind of in the middle for age, some of my cousins are younger than me, some are older.

I've never wanted to have kids.

 

[ReKoil]

I'm the youngest of three, but both my older siblings have kids.
They kinda live too far away now for me to be really close to them, but when they lived closer my sisters eldest child would often want to do things with me. It can be quite fun =3

 

[Setsuna]

I'm going to be an uncle soon. The excitement really hit me when I saw the ultrasound.

Congrats on becoming an uncle!

I've always been the youngest sibling, though I don't like my siblings, and didn't live with them growing up, so I've basically always considered myself an only child, as have the people who I've known since I was a kid.

I'm not really great at being around children, but growing up I sorta wanted a younger sibling because it was a fun thing to fantasize about as a kid. Now that I'm older, the closest thing I have to a younger sibling is my boyfriend's younger sister. Even though I'm not the greatest at talking to people I really wanted to try to make an effort to at least connect with her somewhat and not be a stranger, and I distinctly remember a night where she was telling me about her struggles with school. I really wanted to be a dependable older sibling type of figure, and tried my best to share my thoughts on school after graduating (the whole "this is what I regret, it does feel different after you graduate, I would have done this") but I mostly just remember that it felt like I was really struggling to talk to someone younger than me instead of just thinking of them as being the same level and same age as me. That didn't separate us or get her to dislike me or anything, but thinking I had a realization like that was hard to stomach for me.
I'd like to connect with her more, and I really enjoy the opportunities I get to do that. But how things are right now, I think I'd just be happy with her knowing that I'm at least more comfortable around her than I am most people.

 

[Cyddeon]

I have 2 kids, and helped raising 2 younger siblings, and I have just one thing to say, every child you help raise/ see growing up, is as if it's the first one, lot's of people say we build a personality while growing up, in part it's true, but even newborn babies already have a bit of they're own personality, it's just not fully developed yet, so raising a child, being the 1st time you do it, or being the 11th it always ends up being a struggle to learn what the child likes, dislikes, what it's afraid of, etc. after you learn that, it's a breeze, and you won't even perceive how fast they grow up