Sibling Spacing: Close Together or Far Apart?

What are the best things about having closely spaced siblings? What about farther apart? Siblings' closeness, amount of conflict, and relationships as adults are all affected by the age differences between them.

In this episode, the listeners with closely spaced children tell us why that has worked for them (constant playmates) and not (constant bickering), while those with kids with larger age differences point to the unexpected connections that can still result.

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

• Michael Waters for The Atlantic: A Subtle Shift Shaking Up Sibling Relationships
• ANALYZING CONTEMPORARY FERTILITY by Christine R. Schwartz et. al: Chapter 10: Trends in Years Spent as Mothers of Young Children: The Role of Completed Fertility, Birth Spacing, and Multiple Partner Fertility
• Bart H. H. Golsteyn and Cécile A. J. Magnée for the IZA Institute of Labor Economics: Does Birth Spacing Affect Personality?
• World Bank Group, "World Population Prospects: 2022 Revision:" Fertility rate, total (births per woman) - United States
• Cicirelli, V. G. for Developmental Psychology. Effects of sibling structure and interaction on children's categorization style.
• Sahar Borairi, et. al for the Society for Research in Child Development: "Do siblings influence one another? Unpacking processes that occur during sibling conflict"
• Erping Xiao et. al for Early Child Development and Care: "The influence of birth order and sibling age gap on children’s sharing decision"
• Read all of our listeners' great advice on the original thread in our Facebook group
• Listen to our episode "Birth Order: Can We Fight It?"

Join our Facebook group for advice and laughs from other moms just like you!

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