Its National Siblings Day today and I started to think about my childhood, my siblings and my own children.  It got me thinking about how relationships grow, develop and break down occasionally and the relationship you have with a sibling is no different.

There were 4 of us growing up, I have 3 brothers, 1 older and 2 younger.  I guess being the only girl I probably was a little bit spoilt but I also think I had my fair share of torment to put up with.  My brothers were horrible to me (in a lovely brotherly way of course).  When we were growing up my parents didn’t like to have locks on bedroom doors, they didn’t like the idea of us being able to hide away, the only room in our house that had a lock on the door was the toilet on the landing.  I often found myself hiding in the toilet on days when they had been particularly horrible, whilst one or two or all of my brothers patiently waited outside for me!

Joking apart, I had a very happy childhood; I think having brothers has definitely helped me later on in life, especially when I began my career in the ambulance service which at the time was very male dominated.  I learnt to stick up for myself, I learnt to stand my own ground and I also learnt very quickly not to be offended by toilet humour or bad language!  Hence now I have a very thick skin and I’m not often offended by much.  Now we are grown up I am very close to my older brother, we have children similar ages and we live within a 10 minute walk of each other, so inevitably we spend a lot of time together.  He also gave me the sister I always wanted when he married his lovely wife.  My big brother is very special to me and I don’t hesitate to ever ask for his help, advice and support.  I am very lucky to have him in my life.  I don’t see my younger brothers as much; I guess we have very different lives.  One of them lives in America; I haven’t had much contact with him since he moved out there 9 years ago.  I guess it’s only an ocean away but it feels much further.  My youngest brother has his own struggles to contend with, which make it difficult at times to have a stable relationship with him.  However I don’t love either of them any less than I love my big brother, we may not be in each other’s lives as frequently, we may walk a very different path but I still care and think about them every day and I’m thankful that they are my brothers.  I have very fond memories of my childhood and all three of my brothers are in those memories and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

I always wanted to have more than 1 child.  I guess growing up with siblings I wanted my children to have that same experience.  I didn’t quite plan on having 3 children in 3 years but that’s what happened so we dealt with it.  My children are very close in age which has its benefits but it also comes with its downfalls too.  When they were younger I could take them to the same places and they would all enjoy it, they all went to bed at the same time and we only ever got rid of all our ‘baby’ stuff once the third had outgrown it all.  However being close in age can be difficult, they constantly want my attention at the same time, they find it hard to take it in turns and my word they bicker and argue a lot.  Amidst the bickering and fighting though they are incredibly loyal to one another.  If any one of them are hurt, upset or unwell the other 2 will be there in a second to comfort and cheer them up. Quite often I find them curled up in bed together and my heart just melts.  They may bicker and fight but the love they have for one another is out of this world. My kids are very lucky as they actually have an older brother too, my stepson is 25 years old and my kids adore him, they don’t ever argue with Ryan though; after all he’s much bigger than them!! 

I hope the affection, loyalty and love they all have for each other continues as I’m sure the fighting will too.  There will be times though when they really need each other and I hope that they will be able to rely on each other and support one another through the good and the tough times.  If they are lucky, their relationship and bond will continue to grow and strengthen as they get older and although they may not appreciate it right now they will enjoy the fact that they grew up with siblings.