The Relationship Between Siblings Is Special No Matter Who You Are.

If you’re a sibling, you know that the relationship with your brother(s) and/or sister(s) can sometimes be a bit… ahem… complicated. Perhaps stressful is the right word.

Thanks to some awesome researchers, we now understand sibling relationships better than ever before. Spoiler alert: if you’re a sibling, then the relationship with your other siblings is quite important.

Here are 11 of the most interesting facts about siblings we could find for you. Just wait until you get to #6; it’ll confirm your fears about being the middle child.

In your lifetime, there will never be another relationship like the one you have with your siblings. Your parents pass away too soon, and your spouse and children come along later in life. Siblings are the only people who can know you for your entire life. Because of this, your sibling relationship can be one of the greatest relationships you’ll ever have.

Siblings go through a lot of different personality conflicts. Learning to resolve these conflicts helps with developing a variety of personal and conflict resolution skills.

Sibling dynamics are the same or similar across the animal kingdom and in hundreds of different species. This means that how human siblings interact is similar to how siblings in other species act.

According to researchers, men who grew up with sisters are much better at talking to women than men who grew up without sisters. The same also goes for women who grew up with brothers.

Oldest children typically have an IQ and linguistic advantage over their younger siblings. This is because they are the center of their parents’ attention for a fair amount of time before the next sibling comes along.

The stereotype is true. When you’re the middle child, you get less attention from your parents than the older or younger children. To make up for this, middle children typically have lots of friends and connections outside of the family.

This is because they have to learn a bit of cunning to get their way. If you’re the youngest, then you can’t muscle your way around when everyone is bigger than you.

That’s a long time, right? But if a blended family can survive past the six-year mark, your step-siblings can become as close, or in some cases closer, than biological siblings.

Most playroom disputes happen over issues of property. You know, who took what toy, and so on. Most parents will roll their eyes at these disagreements, but they’re actually important to address. For a small child, property is their only way of establishing control over a world where they have no power at all.

Going through a divorce or parental abuse can make sibling relationships stronger. Siblings tend to band together and look out for each other when parents aren’t doing their job.

When parents die, older siblings instinctively step in to fill the leadership role of parents as a caretaker.

(Via: Business Insider)

If this article didn’t inspire you to pick up the phone and call your siblings, then I’m not sure what will. I’m going to call mine right now.