The Progression of Sibling Relationships

Siblings - best friends, worst enemies or both?

Over the lifetime of siblings, their relationship changes. Sometimes they get along great and other times, not so much. But have you ever thought about the gradual progression of your own relationship with your siblings? I'd advise thinking about it, it's kind of fun!

Check out mine here:

I had three glorious years of being an only child until my little brother was born. But even then I was excited to have a brother. When we were young I could get him to do anything. If I wanted to play teacher, he was my student. If I wanted to play house, he did all the parts I didn't want to. If I wanted to play with my dolls or toys, he would play with them too. If I wanted to watch Disney princess movies, he had no choice but to do it too. But then he got old enough to have his own opinion about things. Bye-bye complete reign.

This began the phase where we did our own things to avoid playing games we didn't like. I would've much rather sat in my room alone and colored page upon page of my coloring books than play with his action figures or dinosaurs. But then, I suddenly realized that some of his toys were actually pretty cool. Come on, who doesn't like building with Legos? That's right, no one. So we became friends again...depending on the day.

Fast forward a few years to when I started middle school. This meant I was too "busy" with school and extracurriculars to hang out with him. Plus, it definitely wasn't cool to hang out with someone still in elementary school. I couldn't be seen doing that unless I was babysitting or something. But by the time I started high school and he started middle school, the same thing happened again...he was wayyy too cool to hang out with someone in high school.

But then I up and left him for college, which as it turns out, has brought us closer than ever. I may not get to see him quite as often, but that doesn't keep us from staying a part of each other's lives (thanks to texting, Skype, Snapchat and social media). And I think it's safe to say when he goes off to college in the fall that we'll become even closer regardless of the fact that we'll be farther away than we are now.

So think about your relationship with your siblings and tell them how much they mean to you. You never know, you might like them a little more than you thought.