In honor of National Siblings day I’m on a ONE Mom mission to ensure that I help my son and daughter lay the foundation for a strong, supportive and of course loving sibling relationship.
Siblings Day was created by Claudia Evart, a freelance paralegal from Manhattan, NY. Evart started the day after losing both her sister at an early age. It is a day of celebration and recognition for brothers and sisters around the world. Siblings Day can be celebrated by sending a card, gift, making a dinner invitation or simply going for a walk in the park. The date of National Siblings Day is very important to its founder Claudia as it marks the birthday of her sister Lisette. The siblings bonds are life-long relationships usually lasting from cradle to grave. It is usually the longest relationship of a person’s life and typically much longer than a mother’s and father’s relationship.
I’ll be honest- I was raised with two sisters and a brother- and when I decided to start my own little brood I was hopeful that I’d be able to give my daughter the gift of a sister– that relationship which will at times be your most frustrating yet always your point of contact through the storms and silly days of life. That’s what my sisters have meant to me- they’re my touchstones, my sounding boards and I can’t imagine not hearing their voices at least once a day… I have yet to meet a grown-up sister and brother who share the same magical, tight-knit, soulful relationship (if you’re one of them, please contact me I’d LOVE to hear about your experience!)
I’m slightly obsessed with scouting out activities and ways to keep my twelve year-old daughter and nine year old son bonded at the hip (of course in a non-dysfunctional way– I have visions in my perfect world of a future filled with them-embracing their respective boyfriends and girlfriends- taking family vacations together and of course always knowing that they can pick up the phone and be each other’s voice of reason and touchstone in the midst of their blurry hectic lives)
So tell me… what are some tried and true activities you’ve done with your boy and girl to get them bonding?
Every little thing – make them agree on a TV show, play board games, let them pick the restaurant you’re going to. My girl is 14, my boys are 12 and 8. The older two bond greatly at sleep-away camp, even though they hardly see each other there. Every year they come back and don’t fight for an entire 72 hours! The little one will go to their camp for the first time next summer, where I expect the big two will have a grand time showing him off to their friends.
You don’t need anything special. Anything you all do together as a family will be a shared experience for them. You can’t force this sort of thing – it is just a product of living every day as a family.