Bro.

Sister: My brother is a real pain.
Grandpa: It could be worse.
Sister: That's impossible.
Grandpa: He could have a twin.

     Since the legendary Cinderella, sibling fights have always been the main problem. Does age difference between siblings affect how well they get along? I have often asked myself this question, because of my eight year old brother Lane. I have friends who have siblings who are much older and younger than them, and they seem to get along better than my brother and I do. However, I also have friends who have siblings close in age, and they also get along well with them. Are my brother and I just not very "compatible" siblings? Do we just never really want to get along with one another? Or is there really some correlation between the age gap in siblings, and how well they get along with one another?
     There has been a lot of research done about this topic, and many families even try to have children spaced apart a certain way to guarantee that their children will get along. Many psychologists and family doctors say that how well siblings get along depends mainly on their personalities, not how far apart in age they are. Other factors to consider are things such as parenting strategies and children's gender. However, it has been found that children who are more than two years apart sometimes have more conflict than those closer in age. Often, the farther apart in age the siblings are, the more they will fight. Kids who are closer in age are more likely to spend time together and to share friends and interests. Siblings who have closer relationships in childhood generally have more positive times together. Siblings who are not as close and have conflicting personalities often fight more. These siblings can even carry their resentments and anger to old age.
     Lane is my reason for why I will be an angry grandma. I really do love the kid, but we have had our moments. When he was one and a half, he threw our house phone at me and made my whole left jaw back and blue for weeks. The phone eventually transformed into big metal toy tractors. Incase you were wondering, they don't feel too great. Last year at his birthday party, he was shooting me with his not so soft airsoft gun. My mom watched and laughed at us.
     I must admit I am not all innocence either. Several years ago when Jenny was over, my brother kept kicking us. I finally pushed him, and he fell on to a laundry basket and got a bloody nose. Three years ago I was shoveling the sidewalk, and he ran right into my shovel mid swing. My mom came running out screaming at me for using a shovel to hit my brother. We both bursted out laughing as we told her that it was accident and that I wasn't  beating him with the shovel. He now has a inch long scar between his eyebrows from that horrible accident.
     We usually are fighting but on one rare occasion we hugged. This picture is from right after I told him that on my way to National FFA I would get to stop at the John Deer factory to buy him a new tractor. What can I say? He is the best brother I have.