Thank You For Being a Bro

Because I am only nineteen months older than The Dude, I don't have a single only-child memory.  Although we don't make the Irish Twins cutoff, we truly grew up together.  Of our 24 first cousins, the only two siblings who are closer in age are actual twins.  If the random statistics I pulled from the internet are to be trusted, the average age difference between siblings is around 2.5 years.

Of Note: We are sitting on The Dude's Winnie the Pooh childhood blankie.  Also, I am wearing Strawberry Shortcake sneakers. 

 

I always believed that our smaller than usual age gap was a leading factor in The Dude and I having a close sibling relationship.  It probably helped, but I think another important reason that we have (almost) always enjoyed each other's company is the tone set by our parents.  This article provides parents with eight tips to help their children to get along.  Number three strikes a chord:

Katie Allison Granju, a mom of five kids and author of Attachment Parenting (Atria, 1999), has found the best way to build a good sibling relationship is simply to have an unspoken, baseline expectation within the family that siblings will indeed be friends.

Our parents nailed it with tip number three.  The Dude was not only my first friend, he is the friend in all of my favorite childhood memories.  Although we had pals outside the family, we spent more time with each other than with any outside buddies.  I was shocked to realize that some families bring their kids' friends on vacations or to events/functions with them.  My parents definitely had the expectation that my brother was my friend.  Supplemental friends were not required on a day-to-day basis.  We developed a lifetime of shared experiences, a million and one inside jokes, and a genuine friendship by actually spending time together.  In fact, we spent our early years sharing bunk beds and our 20s sharing an apartment.

Several years later and I'm still rocking the Strawberry Shortcake sneaks.  Talk about brand loyalty.

I am grateful to my parents for teaching us the importance of our friendship.  And I am very thankful that The Dude is someone I would want to be friends with even if we weren’t related.  I excel at very few things, but I am confident that I am crushing this whole sibling thing.  I challenge brothers and sisters near and far to out-sibling me and The Dude.  Before you accept the challenge, ask yourself this:  Do you and your sibling have a blog together?  Score one for Team Baking Like A Toasted Cheeser.

And now a lovely quote from Jeffrey Kluger, author of "The New Science of Siblings":

From the time they are born, our brothers and sisters are our collaborators and co-conspirators, our role models and cautionary tales. They are our scolds, protectors, goads, tormentors, playmates, counselors, sources of envy, objects of pride. They teach us how to resolve conflicts and how not to; how to conduct friendships and when to walk away from them. Sisters teach brothers about the mysteries of girls; brothers teach sisters about the puzzle of boys. Our spouses arrive comparatively late in our lives; our parents eventually leave us. Our siblings may be the only people we'll ever know who truly qualify as partners for life. "Siblings," says family sociologist Katherine Conger of the University of California, Davis, "are with us for the whole journey."