I was reading an article the other day about how birth order defines your personality, or so was thought!  It got me thinking a about siblings in general and how they react with each other and others around them.  This was obviously during one of my nights of pregnancy insomnia as it led to me thinking about the pros and cons of age gaps between each child!  But i thought I would share some of my findings from watching Tobias and Hamish interact with each other and from research in the internet into stats.

Siblings spend more time with each other than with anyone else. By the time children with siblings are eleven years old, they’ve spent the majority of their free time with them. Even as they get older and have more outside interests and obligations, children still spend a lot of time with their brothers and sisters.  I fact the larger the family, the more time they spend together, one researcher found!  Am I the only one that thinks this can only be a positive thing?!?!?!

Siblings have a huge influence on personalities and behaviours. So even though parents think they have an influence,  a child will pick certain characteristics from watching their siblings and copying their behaviour.  I see this all the time with Hamish, he follows his brother around and if tobias gets told ‘no’, Hamish just wont bother attempting it!  Some research shows that it may even lead to less depression, more life satisfaction and more self-esteem! Also, More siblings can mean more experience of dealing with others — and that seems to create an advantage when it comes to negotiating. Again only positives in my eyes!

Siblings tend to resemble each other in looks and intelligence.  Now this isn’t surprising about the looks, especially if they’ve got the same mother and father, as they share the same genes.   But the intelligence part surprised me and I couldn’t see this being true!  Look at me and my brother, I’m obviously the more smarter one than him!!! Lol! 

Siblings might be more suave when it comes to love.  When I read this, I was shocked! In studies, people who had siblings were found to have an easier time initiating and maintaining a conversation with a member of the opposite sex.  The study went on to say the. Iran order had a lot to do with this too!  There’s some room for thought.

Siblings may keep weight in check. One study found that the risk of obesity drops by 14% for every additional sibling in a household. Perhaps this is because siblings tend to keep each other physically active as sibling rivalry is really a thing!

Parents really do prefer one child over another.  It’s just a little more complicated than this statement though – I might be being a little controversial here, but on a daily basis I will swap between who’s behaving the most as to who is my ‘favourite’ at the time!  

I wouldn’t have it any other way, someone to share this world with and not be lonely.  I love the age gap between my children.  Tobias doesn’t remember life before Hamish and I’m hoping this will be the same for Hamish when the newborn comes!  

Much love 
Rebecca