Sibling Relations Over time

One concept that stood out to me during a discussion about middle age was that of the inverted hourglass sibling relations model. This stood out to me because I have four siblings currently that are very important to my life. Additionally, my mother has 7 seven siblings, many of which are very important to her day to day life. I related to the idea that as children, siblings are extremely close to one another. When my siblings and I were all living in the same house, we were very close, but when I moved away our relationships became slightly more distant. At the same time, I think my siblings have close relationships with one another even though their oldest sister is not at home. As I get more involved in my own life, I can see that we are at reaching the beginning of the widest point of this inverted hour glass. However, looking at my mom's relationships with her siblings as well as hearing her stories helps me see that it might in fact be true for me that my relationship with my siblings will get stronger once we are all older.

When my grandmother's health started requiring that her children take care of her, my mother's siblings started working together to give my grandma everything she needed. It was interesting how the ones that were the most helpful with my grandma were also the siblings that became closest. When my grandmother died, my mom and her sisters decided to meet every month to exchange the ring that my grandma wore. This has become a new tradition or ritual in the family, and is really bringing them closer. Growing up, my mother was so much younger than her siblings that she rarely saw them or spoke to them, but now they call her almost daily to check in and exchange advice. Clearly, the inverted hourglass model works to explain this relationship.