I hear stories all the time about "when I was little":
When I was little I climbed into my little brother's crib one time.
When my brother was born, my mom was afraid to bring him home to me.
When I was little I taunted my brother until he finally bit me in the butt!
Stupid things like that.
Now that I'm older and have my own kid, I'm thinking about these things more. I saw a post the other day on MyYearbook, asking when was a good time to have another child after your first one. She wondered when she, physically and financially, should be ready.
I couldn't help but wonder if it had crossed her mind to base these facts on her child's welfare as well. When is your child ready to become an older brother or sister, or to give half of mommy's attention to somebody else. My son is one and a half now, and he's certainly not ready, nor will he be any time soon (not that I'm planning to have another baby anyways).
Should parents be concerned with when CHILDREN are ready to become siblings? I mean, I've known children who were only 10 months apart from their younger siblings, and they seem just fine, but does that always happen? Does it matter how old a child is before you have another kid?
If you're financially stable and healthy, what would stop you from having another child if you wanted it? Would you worry about things like that? SHOULD YOU?
Peace and Love,
Dani
The kid is always going to feel some level of resentment towards his/her younger siblings. No amount of time is really going to stop that. It's the sibling rivalry thing from the start. So, no, I don't think you should base your desire to have another kid on your current children, except in a few circumstances. If you have a special needs child, then yeah... that welfare should be taken into account. If you cannot afford to have another child, or the current child will really suffer, then yeah, you shouldn't have another kid. But you shouldn't decide to not have another kid just because you think your current child(ren) isn't ready to be an older brother/sister.
~C
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Well, if the kid is young enough, they really won't remember. I can't remember ever resenting my little sister when she was just born, since I was only three. Although I also had an older brother, so I never had mom and dad's full attention anyways. Of course it may be helpful that the older sibling be able to help out, so he can feel useful and important. I guess it depends on the kid.
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