Age gap b/with children

[myturn]

DSD will be 12 when peanut is born - and yeah, it's not how I would have planned it, but I am the oldest of 4 - with 4 years between me and my first brother, 6 years between me and my sister and 18 years between me and my baby brother - it's been fine and in fact the 18 year gap is great - weird, but I love him like my own.

A family evolves and changes and develops with each new member - I think you are right to come to the decision that it doesn't matter. What will be will be. There are good things and bad things whatever the age gap

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Liebling will be at least 8 before Stormageddon appears. I think that is a brilliant age gap. Liebs will be at senior school before Storm even starts primary. Very little chance of sibling comparison, as our last name isn't very unusual. Liebs can do a lot of stuff for himself already and is enjoying independence. DH and Liebs are a lot closer now they do "man stuff" together, so I won't have two children who need me constantly. I have one-on-one with Stormy while Liebs is at school. Liebling can tidy up his stuff, help with the cooking and washing, and goes off to play with his friends outdoors quite a bit - I love that he is growing up and that he enjoys that, plus I'll also love not having two small ones who can't do anything for themselves and can never rest. (Had that when Liebs was a baby, now he and DH have grown up a bit which is fab.)

Liebs is also set to be an excellent big brother. He wants to take Stormy to the park and take turns in reading bedtime stories. Sounds good to me!

[jellybean88]

There's 10&13 years between me and my older siblings and we get along great just as good as I do my brother who is 3 years younger we even all had kids at the same time and my sister and I got married a month apart

[peanutter]

There's 20 months between our boys which is right on what we wanted - we were aiming for between 18-22 months

DS1 was sufficiently young that he never really had any jealousy issues, and hopefully they'll be best friends as they grow up There's no givens, of course, but I hope

[Manhattan]

Thanks for the continued replies ladies! It definitely helps to know there are other families that have such varied gaps. I guess I was so negative about it because most of my friends and family have children with 1 to 2 year gaps and they often tell me DD will be too spoilt /jealous etc to accept a sibling and that it will be extra hard having a baby after having gotten past dd's sleeping/teething issues. But it's so great to hear it does work, and especially those who mentioned their own siblings with big gaps. My brothers are 6 and 4 years older than me, and we do have great relationships. I didn't really think about that, I suppose it's easier to focus on the negatives sometimes. I'm just going to focus on how great a baby will be for our family, and how loved he or she will be when it happens. I need to stop being so easily influenced by others, and follow our own path.

Thanks all xoxox