Community Chat

[JYWilliams]

I have one sister and two brothers and we always share memories.  Super Bowl Sunday my younger brother and me went to go pick up food before the game and we just had a good laugh about things that happen growing up.

[Pearlee]

Yes - we all remember that we never got along and don't like each other.

[chrystaltree]

Yes, indeed.  In fact it is incredibly common for siblings to remember things from their childhood very differently.  Even when they childhood was idylic.  Many factors influence our memories, especially age.  A 6 year old will not remember a family vacation in the same way that a 12 does.  Also, our memories are all very personal.  Something that had meaning to us, didn't necessarily make an impact on a sibling.  Good heavens, two people can be at the same party or event a week ago and they will each remember it differently.  My middle sister is 6 years younger than I am, she's a classic middle sibling.  The way she remember it, no one paid any attention to her as child.  Her birthday parties were small and not very special.  My bother and I, the oldest of the bunch, ignored her.  Our youngest sister, 2 years younger than she is, ignored her too.  She remembers a sad and lonely childhood.  Of course, none of us knew she had those "memories" until she was in her 20's and went into therapy.  We had not a clue.  That's because we didn't eve recognize that childhood...LOL  We were all only 2 years apart in age and there were photos albums in which she certainly had everything we all had.  A bit more than the 3 oldest because my parents had more money by the time the two youngest came around.  She was particularly close as a child to my middle bother who is 2 years older than she, they were like twins.  They spent all their time together as young children.  She doesn't remember that!  Even when we point it out in our family photo albums, she says she doesn't remember.  At one time, I thought she was lying.  She does suffer with chronic depression and I thought she was looking for reasons to feel sad.  But, now understand that she isn't lying.  This is how she remembers things.  Probably because she was drepressed even as a young child but no one thought children could be clinically depressed way back then.  They just called it shyness and thought she'd outgrow it.

[Catiele]

I have one younger brother and we are close. Many memories. We were blessed with the best parents. Many great times that we still talk about all the time. As my sister in law says we knew that we were always welcome. 

[LyndaGee]

I love when my brother calls.  True, we had spats when we were growing up.  He's quite a few years older than me and we're kinda opposites.  But, he's fun to talk to and imitates some of the relatives very well!

[Mom2Dogs]

My older sister remembers my dad (her stepfather.....her father was killed when she was very young) as being abusive (mean no hitting) to her....my mother NEVER would have stood for any type of abuse in the home and my other siblings do not recall him being that mean...stern, yes...expected to follow the house rules yes.  I don't know why she feels that way.

[Regal Bee]

No, I don't share memories with my sister or brother anymore. We see things differently about our youth and I just don't go there now.

[chickenbutt]

This brought to mind an episode from quite a long time ago (decades) when my best friend was hanging out with my brother and sister and I.   She was amazed when they were discussing some stuff from our childhood and everything they said was exactly what I had been saying for years.

She always figured that I probably believed the stuff I was saying (i.e. I was not flat out lying), but figured it could not have actually been that bad.

With hearing the same exact stories from them, she came to realize that what I remembered WAS accurate and it was as horrible as I had stated.

From my POV on this bit - I could understand that somebody might think it could not have been that horrible, though, so I understood how she felt.

I remember my brother once told me that they were having some kind of thing at work where everybody was to tell a story of a wonderful memory from their childhood.

My brother told me that he was feeling kind of panicked because he could not remember a single good memory from his childhood.   He didn't want to be the odd man out, so what did he do?   He made one up.      I can understand that.  

[Spurt]

With slight differences in our ages the memories seem to focus on different childhood events and different perspectives, and they are all pleasant situations....Some of the things my sister talks about I don't even remember.(these are happy memories)...maybe I was visiting my aunt at the time....There are still common fun memories we do all share though....

[Spurt]

---

@Kalli wrote:

My parents had 7 kids in a 16 yr span.  Therefore, yes, the older ones have some different memories from the youngest ones.

We share memories, mostly laughing at each other and ourselves. We sure did some goofy stuff growing up!  Being 1 of only 2 girls, and being the quieter one, some sibs tell me I was babied. Nah! 😂😂😂😂

The younger ones had more relaxed rules, especially curfews.  Mom and Dad were in their 50s by the time my youngest brother went off to college.  

---

@Kalli

Yep, the younger one got away without having to do any chores.