In article .com,
"-L." wrote:

I am interested in hearing from people who have two male siblings who
are next to each other in birth order. How far apart are your boys,
and what kind of relationship do they have with each other?

My feeling is that the advantages and disadvantages fall into two categories:
a) the obvious ones relating to age difference, and
b) the inescapable ones relating to personality difference.

Our boys are 5y2mo and 11mo. They adore each other -- except when DS2
interrupts DS1's activities! To see them getting on so well is a delight, and
they play together quite well a lot of the time.

The advantages of a 4-year age gap a

- older child is more independent
- older child is more patient, unlike a toddler
- older child is more understanding of the baby's need for attention, rather
than just jealous

The disadvantages will be more apparent later. The developmental gap between
13 and 9, or 16 and 12, is much greater than the gap between 5 and 1. Swings
and roundabouts...

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue