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September 7, 2004
Adult Sibling Relationships
Interview
with Joel Levitt author of the book, Sibling
Revelry
Mike
Carruthers:
Over time sibling relationships tend to follow an hourglass
pattern.
Joel
Levitt:
They're close when you are young, when you're a young
adult and you're establishing yourself and your family they
tend to get more distant. And then as people age they tend to
get close again.
Joel Levitt
author of the book Sibling
Revelry says sometimes though siblings stay mad at each
other, sometimes forever.
I think
that the most common reason is that people get frozen. We had
sibling groups that were still mad about things that happened
when they were seven, eight, nine, twelve years old. One brother
was mad at his other brother for stealing five dollars from
him when they were teenagers. The younger brother went to his
grave and they never got together and had a conversation about
it, they were still mad. That's what we want to eliminate.
Because
says Joel sibling relationships are very important perhaps more
important than you might realize.
You're
sibling is the person at the end of the day who will know you
for the longest number of years. For most people it'll exceed
the relationship with their parents or their spouses by twenty-five
years or more. So there's another human being out there in the
world who knows you from the get go. That is really important
psychologically that you have people that know you, that know
what you've been through. It gives people particularly in their
older years a lot of comfort.
At somethingyoushouldknow.net
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
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