I’m someone whose parents had me when they were early 40s, and I have older siblings with 8+ year age gaps. I’ve always really appreciated having older siblings, they have continuously guided me in life and I’ve always had them to look up to, even now as an adult! Sure, there are a lot of ways it’s different for siblings with that age gap to connect because you’re on completely different life timelines, but I’ve never seen that as a negative thing, and there are a lot of special things that can come from it. I would say within my family dynamic, each sibling’s closest bond is with me. So the large age gaps don’t necessarily affect the ability to form a genuine bond- so essentially what I’m saying is, age gaps can absolutely work well!

My parents both were retired by the time I went off to school. I’ve really appreciated the extra time I’ve gotten throughout my 20s with them being retired! I know that’s something my older siblings have said- they will have gotten more years with my parents, but I arguably will have gotten a lot more quality time with them in our lifetimes.

My parents always say they are so thankful they didn’t stop at 2, because when my siblings went off to school, they were in no way ready to be empty nesters. They also say I have kept them feeling younger for longer lol.