Brothers and sisters.

[Jockice]

Pump up the volume. Nah, I'm just wondering how many you lot have. I was in touch with someone a few days ago who is one of six sisters with less than ten years between the oldest and youngest. That fucked my hat. Can you imagine what it would be like growing up? I wonder if they all had perods at the same time.

I'm from the standard one boy one girl family  (like all of Blur. Bet you didn't know that) although my sis is almost eight years older so we weren't all that close growing up. We get on ok nowadays though. Most of the time.

But a few people I know (including my girlfriend) are from larger families and there are sorts of tensions and fall-outs there. I find it hard enough hearing about these things let alone being involved. But I have a slightly younger cousin who is an only child and he says that when he came to visit us as a kid he'd long to go home because our place was so noisy.

So spill the beans on your siblings please. How many, do you still speak to them? Is it gritted teeth on Christmas day? Or what?

[Sebastian Cobb]

An old boss had 7 kids. Oldest was just about to go to university and the youngest was a newborn. He had a Transit minibus to ferry them all around in.

When his boss was congratulating he said 'unlike the twins this one was planned!'.

There was another bloke who had a traditional Catholic set of grandparents and they reckon he sired about 60 kids between 3 wives or something. Fucking mental.

[bgmnts]

I have a uterinal half sister who made my life a bit of a living hell growing up and it turns out my cunt biological father sired many offspring and abandoned them too so I have around three or four agnate siblings who I do not know.

Siblings are usually a bit crap to be fair.

[The Culture Bunker]

I have a brother, almost two years younger than me (eight days between our birthdays). We were never that close, and indeed used to beat the living shite out of each growing up on a constant basis, presumably due to resentment at having to share any space. Bear in mind we were both six foot tall at 14/12, you can imagine we did some damage.

Then I left home at 18 and that was the end of that. I saw him at Christmas and other occasions, but never spoke to him socially or suchlike. Since he's had two kids, I see a bit more of him but there's rarely much conversation: we have zero in common. I remember my mam, when slightly tipsy, expressing her worry that once she and my dad were gone, we'd never talk. I don't know about that, but the prospect doesn't worry me that much - however, my oldest nephew is so far growing up to be more like me than his dad, so maybe that'll keep the connection going for a while yet.

My wife has two sisters, 12/10 years younger than her, who she's not been able to see for nearly two years now, which causes her all manner of sadness. It's something I can't understand at all.

[Bazooka]

Just the one sister like Blur, she lives close to my parents and has two young sons, even though I'm desperate to get back to China when it opens, it's been nice to see them at that age. She is four years older than me and obviously being a female humanoid we had nothing in common during the teens, I used to secretly read her teen mags and read all the diary type entries they give girls to fill in about who they fancy etc.  I'd say we close but can very easily go a while without speaking in depth, especially as since the mid 2000s I've lived far away here or overseas.

But never had an argument since we were kids/young teens, my brother in law/her husband though had some disagreement and refuses to speak with his sister, she even reached out to end the nonsense, but his stubbornness and pride win, the thing is its the kids on both sides that miss out on having aunties and uncles. Unless my sister tried to blow me up with dynamite or shoot me up with an flintlock, these tiffs seem barmy, but it's seems really common.

[monkfromhavana]

2 brothers, one 9 years older and one 12.

I'm really close to the 9 year older brother, mainly due to having to share a bedroom, a love of silliness and a similar sense of humour.

12 years older brother? Barely see him. It's not that there's been a falling out, it's just insufficient click. Oh and him being a bit of an arsehole. I'm sure he's happy enough, but when I'm in the same room with him I find his presence a bit unsettling. I'm trying to think of a way to explain it, as it's the same with my dad but I'm finding it hard to express it.

Basically he takes after my dad. Nice guy at heart but has a way of dominating a room (with immediate family only) by being a hair trigger away from going into a sulk or just being really short with you over nothing. Basically just needs to chill the fuck out a bit.

[Sheffield Wednesday]

Two bros, absolutely love them, best buds, best laugh. Would *** anyone in the *** or *** with a *** for a literally any reason if they upset or hurt my bros. Would *** anyone's *** in with an *** if they said something bad about them. Not saying I'd turn up to a meet and *** someone in the *** for making what they think is a harmless joke but I'd definitely joke about it 😂😂😂

[PlanktonSideburns]

one, a year older, hes a good bunch of lad

exactly like my dad, which casused them to fall out with eachother for a few years, but their mates now

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

1 older brother by 6 years. Blairite, loves Starmer. Loves left wing policies but thinks politics is football and when your side win that means you have won, so doesn't really care what's on offer so long as the red team win. Liverpool supporter (no link to the area). Inclined to come out with received opinion. Play it Safe Paul when it comes to try new things. Very punctual and almost obsessively war games disaster scenarios and their contingencies while idling. Heart generally in the right place.

1 older sister by 4 years. Arch Remainer, London dweller, quasi-public sector solicitor. Pretty typical wealthy City liberal. Hated Corbyn since 2016, now considering becoming a Labour Councillor. Man Utd supporter (no link to the area) . Adventurous when it comes to trying new things. One of those scrupulously organised lives to 15 minute increments of a diary planned 6 years earlier people. Heart generally in the right place.

[Emma Raducanu]

My boss has 4 children aged 12 and below. He has to rent a massive country house to please his wife whose life ambition is to drive a landrover in her wellingtons to pick her kids up from school to impress the other mums, all decked out in their gym outfits after a hard day of spending their husband's money. He's perfectly open about that fact he's on his arse looking after his high maintainance wife and his incredibly active children who are each in many clubs which costs a fortune.

He works two jobs to pay for it all, gets about 3 hours sleep a night and makes the children's packed lunch about 5am before coming to work, while his wife sleeps before staging some instagram photos of her perfect breakfast in the country. I take the fucking piss out of him, but he's an incredibly lovely guy and his life is gonna be a struggle until he dies.

[Sorry Monkeys]

I was in touch with someone a few days ago who is one of six sisters with less than ten years between the oldest and youngest.

It's same for me, except I'm the only boy. It was alienating growing up, and I have a blind spot for men's and women's clothing. I sometimes can't tell the difference.

My dad was a cunt, so I've had to learn what it means to be a man from scratch. I don't feel like a proper man somehow. Still, it's just a societal construct at the end of the day. Doesn't actually mean anything.

[ImmaculateClump]

One older sister. We had a proper volatile relationship growing up, playing together sweetly one minute and then literally tearing each others hair out the next.

We grew out of the hair pulling and we're really close now.
It was horrible during lockdown because I couldn't see her or my nephew but it's relaxed a bit now so I'm seeing them every day, sometimes all day.
Everything is feeling a lot more normal now.

[flotemysost]

I wonder if they all had perods at the same time.

Pernods? All at the same time? Can think of worse ways to bond with your siblings, I guess.

Another '1 boy 1 girl' family here - my brother's 5 years older than me. He left home at 18, when I was 13 - a combination of the gap being quite significant at that age, and him throwing himself into being in a touring band over the next few years, meant we didn't really speak much or know each other very well for ages (plus the fact that this period coincided with my dad really stepping up his game with the old alcoholism - I suspect I resented being left to deal with that while he was gallivanting around the dive venues of Europe).

Anyway now we're both a bit older we talk quite regularly, it turns out we've still got a lot in common and a similar sense of humour/general world view. I'm hugely proud of his music career (despite any resentment/feelings of abandonment I might have harboured) and I'm gutted I can't visit him at the moment.

[Jockice]

Pernods? All at the same time? Can think of worse ways to bond with your siblings, I guess.

Well nuns do apparently. Although I wouldn't know that for definite.

[flotemysost]

Well nuns do apparently. Although I wouldn't know that for definite.

Ahh I was attempting to make a rather limp joke about the typo in your original post, I apologise (although now I'm enjoying the image of a bunch of nuns all necking aniseed liqueur at the same time).

Re: periods syncing - sometimes it does happen but it's not like a given, everyone's biology's different (plus lots of women are on contraceptives or have hormonal imbalances or other stuff that affects when your period decides to show up).

[Jockice]

Ahh I was attempting to make a rather limp joke about the typo in your original post, I apologise (although now I'm enjoying the image of a bunch of nuns all necking aniseed liqueur at the same time).

Re: periods syncing - sometimes it does happen but it's not like a given, everyone's biology's different (plus lots of women are on contraceptives or have hormonal imbalances or other stuff that affects when your period decides to show up).

Ah! I didn't notice my cock-up. Or that you'd put pernods.. I used to be employed as a sub-editor you know. But I'm not anymore. Thank heavens.

[Icehaven]

Not really, although I do have an unspecified amount of half brothers and sisters in Australia I've never met as my Dad, who I've also never met, was a bit of a Romeo apparently. One 'sister' got in touch on MySpace back when that was a thing and we exchanged a few messages but it petered out, and she seemed very bitter about having had to go through what had gone on between our dad and her mum (they'd been married and divorced), whereas I hadn't experienced any of that (our dad had been having an affair with my mum, who came back to England with me when I was a baby and left the whole shitshow behind). My mum wasn't the only other woman and I wasn't the only other baby either so god knows how many of us are running around. I'm unlikely to catch up with any of them now but you never know, if any of them did get in touch I'd be very happy to get to know them but I wouldn't pursue it myself in case it's a touchy subject/they don't know I exist etc.

[Marner and Me]

My boss has 4 children aged 12 and below. He has to rent a massive country house to please his wife whose life ambition is to drive a landrover in her wellingtons to pick her kids up from school to impress the other mums, all decked out in their gym outfits after a hard day of spending their husband's money. He's perfectly open about that fact he's on his arse looking after his high maintainance wife and his incredibly active children who are each in many clubs which costs a fortune.

He works two jobs to pay for it all, gets about 3 hours sleep a night and makes the children's packed lunch about 5am before coming to work, while his wife sleeps before staging some instagram photos of her perfect breakfast in the country. I take the fucking piss out of him, but he's an incredibly lovely guy and his life is gonna be a struggle until he dies.

That sounds fucking dreadful.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I've one Sister who is just under three years older than me, childhood wasn't that pleasant and we only got on when on holiday and she didn't have friends to hang around with, but when I got to about 15 things thawed a little, and once I was pub going age we became really close, and have been ever since. She's a bit rubbish when it comes to serious things and I'm the one who's had to deal with mother's various mental issues, but I enjoy spending time with her and feel lucky to have that kind of relationship with her.

I've also a step-brother but he's a bit of a cunt, I've told this story many a time but the short version is that about twenty years ago he ditched his girlfriend and two kids and fucked off to the Philippines to open a brothel, and the one time he's visited since then he bragged about fucking countless prostitutes, even going so far as to show me pictures of them on his laptop and rating them out of 10.

[Jockice]

I've just remembered that one of our regular posters lost a sibling recently so would just like to apologise if this thread seems insensitive to them. Three of my closest friends have lost brothers and I know how it still affects them, although they all have other siblings. So sorry to anyone in this position.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

Three older sisters, but not really that close to any of them, but that's because I'm a weirdo, emotional wreck of a loner.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm one of them but I blame it on the fact I have no siblings.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Two sisters and a brother, all younger than me. We like each other.

I work with someone who is one of seventeen kids. Eldest was 23 when youngest was born. I believe there's at least one set of twins in there.

[timebug]

My Mother was the eldest of five sisters. The eldest four were all born just over a year apart. Then a large gap of ten years before the youngest sister was born. Basically, the grandparents had stopped at four, and then either V.E day or V.J day and lots of drink occured, and the rest was history! The elder four always got along well with one another, and they all instinctively treated the youngest as their 'baby sister'. In real terms, my Mother and the next sister, would have left school and been at work, around the time the baby sister learned to walk.
Marc (your old pal Serge) was three years older than his brother Owen, and they always had nothing in common. Marc, like me, was a reader, a music lover and a thinker; his brother was/is a sports freak, great and fearless at running/jumping/climbing kicking a ball/hitting a ball/throwing a ball etc. A book to him, was something that contained loads of words,and that Marc and I were likely to have heard of or read! Musically, he likes the odd thing with thumping bass/drums, but otherwise is not bothered by it! Marc was a non drinker; I am virtually a non drinker (although I will partake of the odd pint with mates or family, for an event) whilst Owen has made a serious life choice about it, and will drink at the drop of a hat.
My two sons would defend one another in arguments with 'outsiders' but otherwise had very little in common, and did not seek one anothers company as they grew up. Family, who'd have them?

[Jockice]

I work with someone who is one of seventeen kids. Eldest was 23 when youngest was born. I believe there's at least one set of twins in there.

That's impressive. Undertones bassist Mickey Bradley is one of 11 but the biggest I personally know is my best platonic female friend who is one of nine - six boys and three girls. They don't all get on all the time.

[Icehaven]

Big families are rarer now aren't they? The biggest I know is my cousins by my Mum's sister, there's six of them (4 girls 2 boys) but even the youngest is 41 now. I don't know any younger families that have more than three kids.

[touchingcloth]

<tag>King Perod</tag>

[WesterlyWinds]

there appear to be very few porn stars these days that are only childs, that's for sure

[Sebastian Cobb]

Big families are rarer now aren't they? The biggest I know is my cousins by my Mum's sister, there's six of them (4 girls 2 boys) but even the youngest is 41 now. I don't know any younger families that have more than three kids.

It was probably a lot more common when dual income household incomes weren't a necessity, something that got normalised quite a bit before maternity leave.

[Jockice]

One older sister. We had a proper volatile relationship growing up, playing together sweetly one minute and then literally tearing each others hair out the next.

Yeah, we used to have physical fights as well. They stopped when I was about ten because I was taller than her by then. I'm not into using violence against females but when you're growing up and she's your sister it's a bit different. A mate of mine has an elder sister as well (only about three years between them though) and he has described them as 'hair-pulling contests.'

One story my sister always tells my friends is about the time she was in the living room at our nana and grandad's reading a newspaper and I punched her through it, giving her a nosebleed.

What she always forgets to mention is that 30 seconds earlier I'd been sitting in that living room on my own reading the same newspaper and she'd walked in, snatched it out of my hands and sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the room with it in front of her. Changes the context slightly I think.