How Siblings Change as They Get Older

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Article by Wendy McCance

Well, the summer is almost over.  My son who will be going to middle school this year is in an orientation program to get ready for the transition from elementary school to middle school.  I don’t know what happened or when it might have occurred, but my son looks so much older and the little kid in him has now vanished.

Although he is confident in the program and is having a great time with his friends, the anxiety is still present.  Today I picked up his schedule, lock for his locker and filled out all of the required paperwork.  My son had a project to do for his orientation.  He panicked trying to navigate the web site and broke down when he couldn’t get his lock combination to work.  Yep, the anxiety is present.  I have a daughter who is a year older than my son.  She went through the same process last year.  I honestly don’t remember her having the anxiety that my son seems to be going through.

I am grateful to my daughter for her sweetness with her brother.  She has taken her brother under her wing and helped him with his project and showed him how to do the locker combination.  She has been a wonderful influence on my son.

My son went to a party after orientation today.  At one point he called home and spoke with his sister about a scheduling question.  In the background, one of my son’s friends yelled to my son to say hi to my daughter from him.  Oh boy, it’s begun.

My daughter was funny about my son’s friend trying to say hi to her.  At first her reaction was one of amusement when she realized that this boy will be saying hi to her in the halls at school this year.  The amusement turned to horror when she determined that her friends would think it was strange that all of these “little kids” would be trying to talk with her at school.  It cracks me up that there is just one year between the siblings, but my daughter feels that my son and his friends are so much younger than she is.

This is the same girl who would search her brother out at elementary school and come home in tears when he got embarrassed and purposely ignored her.  My son refused to sit with her on the bus.  If he saw her in the hall and my daughter said hi, he would cover up his face and say, “I don’t know you.”  Times have definitely changed.

Now my son is grateful to have an older sister.  He is proud to show her off to his friends.  Having an “older kid” connection at the new school is a huge relief to him.  He can ask questions to her and gets great advice on what to do and what to avoid.  This year is going to be a lot of fun watching how the kids are growing, changing and taking care of each other.

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Wendy McCance

Wendy McCance is a Michigan based freelance writer and social media consultant. Wendy has gained attention as the founder of the popular blog Searching for the Happiness which can be viewed in 6 local papers online, including the Oakland Press.The combination of writing skills and social media knowledge is what makes Wendy such a powerhouse to work with. Stay tuned for opportunities to advertise, guest post and as always, have your questions answered.

To contact Wendy McCance about a writing assignment, interview or speaking engagement, please email her at: [email protected]

9 thoughts on “How Siblings Change as They Get Older

  1. It is a wonderful sign that he relies on her and that she helps him. That bond is special. I have been lucky enough that my son and daughter have always had a very strong bond. Even now as adults, she has him over for dinner about once a week. I treasure that.

    • I love that they get together for dinner. The kids have always been close, but now they aren’t as embarrassed being sweet with each other in front of their friends. They have always had a way of gauging their friendships. If their friends treated the siblings well and would even include them, they were keepers. If they weren’t nice to the kids brother/sister, the kids would drop the friendship.

  2. My high school daughter looked after me when I got a job at her school. She always made sure to buy a Cheez Zombie for me before they ran out in the cafeteria. And I was so worried when I accepted the job that she’d have a tee shirt imprinted with the slogan “That’s NOT my mom.”

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