Sibling differences?

[gardenmommy]

I have an older brother and older sister and sometimes it seriously boggles my mind how the 3 of us grew up in the same household with the same set of parents, rules and expectations and grew up to be about 3 of the most different people on earth.

We all took significantly different life paths, raise our children very differently, have vastly different views on money, education, politics and just about every little thing imaginable.

Don't get me wrong I love them both dearly and am so glad to have them in my life...but am I the only one who had such vast sibling differences?

[laura]

No, my siblings are all very [VERY] different from me. My husband marvels that I came from the same family, actually. I'm the youngest of 5 and none of us are anything alike in terms of jobs, incomes, living areas, homes, education, politics, values, goals, etc.

[Reenie]

No, you're not the only one, and I think it's actually pretty normal.

It's also quite interesting to me that people who grew up in the same house with the same parents at the same time can have very different memories and perceptions of their lives, but I guess that's also pretty common. I think that this fact can lead to the differences you mentioned.

[karlatta]

My siblings and I are all pretty different.

If you think about it, there are so many other things that impact the kind of person you become - factors your parents can't control. I think friends and teachers make a huge impact on a kid's life.

[tinkerbelljenny]

I have always had this feeling that one of my sisters was switched at birth. She has always been the outcast, very different and moody. Did I mention how moody she is?? I dream that one day my "real" sister will come.;)

[diam124]

I have 2 sisters and while we are definitely different in many ways - I think we are alike more than we are different. We aren't super close in that we talk on the phone to each other all the time or anything, but we have similar ways of looking at things. DH always rolls his eyes when I'm with my middle sister because we both have a tendency to make silly statements. Case in point - we have the exact same car - same color and everything. I was visiting once (we live 4 hours apart) and we walked out to the parking lot. My sister pointed out that there was a car in the parking lot that looked just like hers and then she gasped and said and they went to the same school as us! Of course it was my car - she just didn't put two and two together. I could see myself doing the same exact thing.

DH and his brother are complete opposites in many ways. They even look like opposites - DH has black hair while his brother is more blonde. DH is older and I think BIL has purposely rebelled in many ways to be the opposite of DH.

[salysaturn]

I am the youngest of 3. My parents still live in the same townhouse I grew up in, and my sister bought the house RIGHT next door. My brother lives like 5 miles away. I live 200 miles away. My brother is a mamas boy. He eats dinner as many nights as he can at my moms, and when there, he can't as much lift a finger. We all have different degrees of education, jobs, we are all married, and none have kids..so it evens out :)

[Ribbit]

Well, I am an only child, so no siblings of my own, but I have had many friends/boyfriends whose siblings are VASTLY different. I think there are sooo many things that affect how we turn out...even within a family you have to consider birth order, gender, stronger bonds with one parent or the other, etc. Then even siblings have different genetics, teachers, friends, natural skills/gifts, which all take us towards different life experiences.

I remember getting so irritated with my ex's mom, because she would get both her boys the *exact* same presents for Christmas, even though as adults they couldn't be more different! She was one of those people who believed that her children should be just like her, no matter what. I am not just like my parents, and I imagine if i had siblings, we would all be different, too.

[udsweetpea]

You're not the only one! My brother and I vary drastically. I'm identical to my parents when it comes to finances, politics, parenting, etc. But my brother is the family outcast. I think it has a lot to do with him staying home all the time when we were growing up. He never went anywhere, and I just bonded easier with my parents.

There's a huge family blow-up every 6 months or so because of all of our differences, and we all work together. Smart! And it doesn't help he hates my boyfriend.

[jenahdawn]

I've always said that if my mother and her siblings weren't brothers and sisters, they would have little to nothing to do with each other.

My brothers and I are very different as well.

[Ericka_Jarett]

My brothers and I are very different.

I am the only one married or that has children.

I am the only one to go all the way through high school, my middle brother did get his GED, the oldest dropped out with 1 yr to go and the youngest only got to 9th grade.

I worked in an office prior to becoming a SAHM. My oldest brother is in construction and can play music. My middle brother works in corrections as a cooking instructor and the youngest does all sorts of odd jobs and can work on cars.

[AmyE]

Huh.

Actually, I can't think of any families that I know well where the siblings are quite similar. Every family with more than 1 kid that I can think of has vastly different temperments, educations, jobs, marital status, etc. My own included. Heck, my 17-month-old twins are already completely different people. (But they are both short. They do have that in common.)

[ManteoChik]

I think we're quite different.

My brother is an airline pilot, while I'm a photographer. He looks like our mom, I look like our dad. I knew what I wanted to do at college and did it, we like to say he's on the 10 year installment plan for college...lol. I love kids, him...not so much. I'm in a committed 8 year relationship, he hooks up with his flight attendants (well, not all of them). Over the years he's become quite a bit more liberal while I'm more conservative.

Wow, until I wrote all that I never thought we were *that* different....lol. He definitely does things that bugs me...like enables our mom to be her usual self.

[mkredhead]

I have three younger brothers, and it is funny to see how everyone turned out. We get along wonderfully and are a very close family as a general rule. We all have similar core values and moral codes, but our beliefs are very different. I am a carbon copy of my mom. My youngest brother, against his will, is a carbon of my dad in terms of personality. (That is a wonderful thing!!)

My oldest brother and his wife keep to themselves more than the others. He is pretty frugal, was in trouble when he was younger and never really got over that and is just kind of different - in good ways - from the rest of the family.

My middle brother lives in Maine and is a very go-with-the-flow kind of guy.

My youngest brother is extremely opinionated about everything. He is hugely into weightlifting and body building. He doesn't drink at all (The rest of the family drinks a lot), etc. For a while he was very into the punk rock XXX movement and the Courage Crew, which made him almost militant about drinking and smoking. He wasn't very fun then. But he's come around and accepts other people's decisions.

I love my brothers dearly and can't imagine life - or dinnertime conversations - without them.

[MichelleRenee]

Well, my brother and sister are very much alike and very much like my parents and I am sort of the black sheep. They are all smokers, drinkers and pretty laid-back about life. I am the straight-edge, non-smoker, non-drinker, rules following, college degree seeking perfectionist.

[wendalah]

Well, my brother and sister are very much alike and very much like my parents and I am sort of the black sheep.

Ditto, except I am not straight edge or perfectionist at all :)

[MichelleRenee]

Ditto, except I am not straight edge or perfectionist at all

That's why most people think I am so weird - it is like that "rebellious child" thing but backwards. Instead of 2 good kids and 1 bad one they got 2 bad ones and 1 good one! Which they don't mind because like I said, my bro and sis are a lot like them!

[TX Sweetheart]

I'm the youngest of six, though I grew up as an only child (my youngest sister is 17 years older than me), so obviously I'm quite different from my siblings... they're all quite like each other though, 'cept my youngest sister... she's different than the rest but she and I are also quite different from each other.

DH & his brother are pretty much the opposite of each other in most aspects of life.

[Belm]

For my three sisters and I, we all have the same political/social agenda and all have at least a college degree. Some have more than that though. Three of us are pretty much the same when it comes to where we want to go with our lives, our goals, our future, etc. But, one of my sisters seems to be just floating around in life. She is not with a guy that we all like or approve of.

For DH's family, he is the black sheep of the family. He is nothing like his parents or his sister - which is a very good thing. I seriously wonder how he turned out as great as he did given his parents and where his sister is today.

[KiKi'sMommy]

I am the middle child. I have one older brother and a younger sister. My sister and I are a LOT alike, but we still have differences. She tends to act and think like my Mom, while I tend to be more like my Dad. I am not as close with my brother (although I would like to be) and he and I are very different. I am very straight and narrow and he is more about trying EVERYTHING life has to offer. He and my sister have a good relationship, but she tends to be more open-minded about his lifestyle than I do. I don't judge him, but I think he thinks that I do. My DH and his brother could not be more different. My DH is assertive and outspoken. His brother is laid back and does not stand up for himself very much.

[ivansbabe]

I have an older sister and younger brother and we're all different but all get along well and see eye to eye on many things. DH and his sister however are TOTALLY different. Actually DH and his parents and sister are completely different from him. It sucks because he never has or will probably ever feel a closeness with them, they're just too different.

[HeatherH]

I come from a family of 7 kids ( :eek: ) and it is amazing to see the differences amongst us. For example when it comes to education...my older brother will be graduating with his Ph.D. from M.I.T. next year, while my youngest sister didn't finish high school, had a kid at age 19, and is on the vocational path. Some of us are more liberal than the others, some of us treat our parents with way more respect than others, and the list goes on. I know that some of the way we all turned out has to do with my parents changing their parenting style. I think my parents did a pretty good job raising the 3 oldest (myself included). My parents got lazy and had a 'been there, done that' attitude in raising the 4 youngest and it shows. For the most part, we all get a long pretty well and can appreciate the differences.

[kdotp]

I have two older sisters. We're all very different looks-wise. Sister #1 is short, well-endowed and has dark hair; sister #2 is short, not well-endowed and had blonde hair growing up; I'm tall, not well-endowed and have brown hair.

Personality-wise, sister #2 and I are much more alike than we are with sister #1, but even then sister #2 and I have our differences.

Education-wise, we're all college graduates. Sister #1 went back to school after her son was born to pursue a nursing degree. Sister #2 has her master's but is currently a SAHM. I have my BA and am a WOHM.

Despite our differences, I'd say we're all still fairly close. I definitely talk to sister #2 more than I do with sister #1, but when we all get together, we all get along and even have a lot of fun together.

DH and his brother look absolutely nothing alike. DH is tall, red-headed and very athletically built. He's outgoing, social and generous (almost to a fault) and is a big procrastinator. BIL is tall, very thin and dark-haired. He's more introverted and quiet and definitely thinks everything through, but acts once he's made his decision. DH and BIL are very close and get along very well.

[ellebelle]

My brother and I are very similar. My mom's siblings on the other hand is like night and day. My mom is successful, well adjusted, and emotionally stable. The same cannot be said for her older brother and younger sister.

[Kimberland30]

My brother and are more similar than we are different. We work in the same industry, have the same temperment and humor, and we are very close. I'm married with two kids and pretty stable in life (own a home, etc), while he is still single, lives in an apartment and hasn't decided where he wants to be in life. But there is no rush or anything, I'm happy that he's happy.