Do you think it's normal or common for siblings to be estranged as we creep into the Decembers of our lives?

Gershun, love those cats!   They're so similar in color; are they mother and daughter (the right one looks a bit younger).

I think siblings naturally grow apart as they age, create their own lives and families, especially in my generation and the current younger people.    When my parents grew up, they and their families often stayed close to each other, but people are much more mobile these days.

There was also a cohesiveness that I don't see as often, or perhaps that's just my experience.   A family often becomes a unit separate from siblings and their families.   And children's activities tend to emphasize focus on that family as priorities.

The Kennedys in my view were a good example though of family cohesiveness. 

I also think that various events intervene to lessen if not break the bonds, with caregiving being one of those significant events that can separate the participants from those who do not become involved.   Military families can become separated from blood families and create bonds with other families on base, especially since they often have more commonalities in those relationships.

I do think that less family cohesion may be a trend, but I think it also depends on what kinds of jobs the grown children take, whether those jobs require traveling or relocating, and to a great degree how involved families are with online communication, which can substitute at some level for family involvement.

There's also the issue of people becoming so absorbed in their online life that real people and real relationships aren't cultivated as much, and/or aren't as important.   

And, unfortunately, I think these separations are going to intensify as tech becomes more and more the norm in our lives.    I've seen, read and heard of families in which interaction and communication has diminished in just that family, b/c the younger generation is literally glued to their phones and don't even interact that much with their parents and siblings in their own homes.

Gershun, All I have is one brother and we don't get along at all! We only talk now because my mother had to file bankruptcy and her name was on his truck which she put a loan on and lost his truck, if it wasn't for that we would never talk.

From what I have read on this forum and from what I see in the real world--it seems to me to become the norm. People today have to work harder and longer just to keep their head above water and the world we live in is running so fast that its like no one has time to say hi much less spend a few hrs with family. We don't value family the way it was value 5 to 7 decades ago. We all want at some level of what we see on TV shows. But it isn't there anymore.

Technology was meant to bring us closer together, but research is showing that people feel more alone in today's world than they did in the 90's, 80's and etc.

I myself have been thinking about this to. My mother is still alive, but I don't know her and in truth, I probably never did. We don't really talk or interact, therefore, all I truly have is my Sig other. I feel very much like an orphan. The one parent that loved me and I was close to is gone. I don't believe that we are alone in feeling this way. You are not alone Gershun I am in the same boat with you (feeling like an orphan).


May our Lord bring you peace and love through Jesus Christ heal your heart and wipe your tears in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Sending you lots of hugs and love.

Hugs!!!💕💗💓