Our kids have a wide age gap straight down the line from oldest to youngest. We skip from 15 to 11 to 4 years of age. There are arguments for and against spaced out siblings. Without a heck of a lot of planning on our part, this is just how our family evolved.
So how do you encourage and support familial bonds with such wide age gaps?
We struggle with this in our TR household. Bluey idolizes his siblings and would spend every waking moment playing with them. And though his siblings also adore Bluey, they are much more inclined towards being with their older friends and attending to their social or school obligations.
We’ve taken a few steps to make sure that the sibbies spend time together, in the hope that their connections and bonds will grow. We plan family activities on Saturdays where participation is non-negotiable. We eat dinner together every school night, no exceptions. Every Friday night we enjoy a family friendly movie with dinner in front of the TV. And we do our best to encourage the kids to come together to play, or garden, or take the dog on a walk.
It is a on-going project to bring these spread-out siblings together. Their love for one another is strong, but their ages keep them separated a lot of the time: different schools, different friends, different activities.
What ways do you find to keep your family bond tight?
This is a discussion close to my heart! I have 2 kids with a big age gap and I worried about this a lot. Mine are 15 and 7. I’m lucky in that they are both boys and both love sports. This gives them a bond right off the bat. I used to make them spend time together as well…”non negotiable.” But what I actually found is the less I make them spend time together the more they want to! They actually MISS each other! Carson is the ball boy for my older one’s high school football team. I was worried Ty would be embarrassed but he is actually proud of him and doesn’t mind him bobbing and weaving around the players/field at all. In turn Ty actually wants to go to Carson’s wrestling tournaments…even the overnight and all day ones! He hates to miss a match. It’s a tricky thing to navigate, but left to decide for themselves, in the end, they always come together. 🙂