How different are you from your siblings?

stir_crazy

I'm the second of 4, the only girl. All of my brothers are very outgoing and seem to feel at ease in many social situations, whereas I'm the complete opposite!
I'm probably the most materialistic one, in the sense that I like to better myself so I can earn the money to do up my house, have a good car, etc. My brothers are all living with my dad and dont seem to care about moving on in life.
I'm the one who stuck in at school and went to uni, all my brothers left school as soon as they could, although I would say that one of my younger brothers is very bright and could have gone far if he had had the ambition, which is something that all three are lacking. My other younger brother tends to day dream about getting the perfect high paying job that is interesting but not overly time consuming! Yet he lacks the drive to work for a better job.

I'm also the only one who is married, one of my brothers we think will be an eternal bachelor, one likes party girls who never seem to stick around for too long, and the last one has been in an on/off relationship since around the time that I met my husband.

VestanPance

Personality wise I have very little in common with my siblings.

I did very well academically, while they barely have a qualification between them. I love sport, particularly participating (marathons/triathlons/cycling sportives), and they're couch potatoes. I'm reasonably introverted and logic driven. They're more extroverted and emotionally driven. Politically I'm left leaning, while they're centre right. I'm very interested in music, both playing and listening. They just listen to whatever trash is on Radio One. I'm a grab a backpack and travel type, while they're a two weeks on the beach sort.

166million

My brother shaves his moustache, but that's the only difference

AmyTurtle

I actually have 7 siblings and lots more step-siblings but I'll only tell you about the ones I grew up in the same house with!

Older half-sister - mid-30s, gay, new relationship every other week, likes drugs & drink, horrible temper, can get very physical. She's very good with money and is the tightest person I've ever met! Very self-centred, makes no effort with family at all but expects everyone to bend over backwards for her. Needless to say, we are not close - in fact she has never even been to my house! Hates her own company and literally never spends time by herself. Has lots of friends but they change every 5 minutes. We look absolutely nothing like each other and people often refuse to believe we are related, let alone siblings!

Younger brother - late 20s, married, 1 child and one on the way - we are very close, share similar values and outlooks. He is stroppier than me and can get a bit irritating as he always thinks he's right and gets annoyed if you don't take his advice! He works hard but is similar to me financially - we both got into debt when younger but have become more responsible as we've got older. Both have long term friends we've been friends with since school - in fact his best friend married my best friend! We also look fairly similar.

I'm the classic middle child - -quieter than the other two, used to entertaining myself and like my own company. In a long term relationship, pretty stable, quite boring compared to them but like a quiet life

The only thing we all have in common is that we all work hard and all like reading really. I did the best at school but we are all reasonably bright and passed our exams with good grades.

minerva_windsong

I'm the youngest of three sisters and I would definitely say I'm more like my oldest sister in terms of personality. Both of us are quite laid-back, not massively ambitious, fairly messy, quite responsible, very academic. We have similar tastes in clothes/music/house d!cor too. The one thing I'd say is that she's a lot more sociable than I am.


I always thought my middle sister was a lot more different than me when we were younger as she was very trendy and glamorous (well she still is to be honest), but I think as I get older we're more similar. She is the organised one, very driven and a bit more of a worrier than me and eldest sister, but she's also a fellow early riser and quite independent so we have that in common.

vroombroom

There are just over 3 years between me and my brother. We live around 250 miles apart and have lived with each other on and off throughout our childhood.

My parents were in the army, so when he was 11 he went to a boarding school in the UK. Two years later we moved back to the UK and I started my last year of primary school, then onto high school. He stayed in boarding school as to no disrupt his education.

Brother came back at weekends and half term but he came back properly when he was 16 to go to college locally. He then moved out again to go to uni in Manchester at 18, where he still lives now.

He has had a private education and a uni degree which my parents paid for. My parents split up when I was 16/17 and it was horrible on me to watch - I had 3 jobs at one point, plus sixth form, to help with bills and mortgage as my father had moved out and was not paying.

Anyway fast forward to today. My brother is 34, still lives in his houseshare with his two mates from uni and works in a job that has no relation to his degree/preferred field. He hates change yet moans a lot about how he is bored of life. Suggestions on things to do/to motivate himself get shoved under the carpet. He has had driving lessons but gave up half way through.

Me, on the other hand, have moved 11 times since I was 17. I was a rep for three years in Spain and Greece, taught myself Spanish, paid for my own driving lessons and bought my first car myself, bought my first house at 21, paid for myself through uni part time for 4 years whilst working full time and had a family. I thrive on impulsiveness and love a challenge.

I wouldn't say we are extremely close, but we do speak every few days

Teacher2

pinpin wrote: »

My brother is about 10 times brighter than me.
Never studied for exams. Missed loads of school because he was suspended for having long hair which he refused to cut. Spent his time drawing and playing music and still managed to Get pretty much A's all round (and this was a good few years ago now before the exams were dumbed down and everyone got A's)

Whereas I've always been pretty dumb.
We were both always fairly directionless in terms of careers growing up, but he was picked out by his bosses in a low level data entry job he was doing as someone who clearly could do better and now designs electrical networks for the same company and achieved the highest grade in some advanced maths/calculus course at college that he was sent on, whereas I struggle with the simple tasks and am resigned to menial work.

Dad is very smart indeed and had a similarly complicated (and ridiculously well-paid) job, but not sure why I drew the short straw in the brains department! lol

We do have certain similar personality traits, though.

I am an English teacher and I am shocked by your post. You are NOT 'pretty dumb'. Your English is good and your spelling, punctuation and grammar would have put you in the top set in any of the 34 years in which I taught. Perhaps the bias towards numerical ability in your family has made you think they are brighter than you but, believe me, an ability to write good English correlates incredibly closely with an ability to think, rationalise and communicate. Perhaps maths jobs pay better but that doesn't make you 'dumb'. It might be that an undue sense of inferiority is holding you back. You ought to rethink this!

Teacher2

Similarities between my sister and I:-
-look alike
-same colouring as we take after our father
-both teachers in Arts subjects
-both married with children
-both family orientated
-both read and like culture and the Arts
-both like travelling
Differences:
-she's a vegetarian, I'm not
-she's a socialist, I'm not
-she's a Christian, I'm an atheist
-I am very good with money, she's not
-I have good self awareness, she hasn't
-she's a doer and I'm a thinker
-I have two kids, she has three
-she has married a northerner and I am married to a southerner
From the same beginnings we have drifted apart, sadly.

his_missus

I read this thread a week ago but didn't post. At that time I would have said I was very different to my sister, personality wise.


I would have described her as quite materialistic, she judges people based on how they look, what they wear, how posh their house is etc. She likes to be centre of attention and feels the need to keep up with the Jones. She's outgoing and has a large circle friends whereas I'm quite opposite. We have never fallen out or dislike each other, we just wouldn't choose each other as friends.


However after spending some time with her this weekend, she seems much less materialistic than she used to be. Now she has 2 children it's all about bargain shopping and saving money. The girls are her focus rather than herself and as for keeping up with others - we spent half the evening competing who'd saved the most on their bill, how low our shopping budgets were etc.


We're are still very different and wouldn't choose to be friends, but she's a good sister

Birdie85

My brother and I are very similar. We're both really laid back and have the same sense of humour and approach to life etc. Oddly, we both married people who are quite tightly wound and full of energy! We went on a family holiday a few years back, my brother and I were happy to sit around drinking and reading all day whilst our OHs were tiring each other out in the pool!