While driving home the other night I was listening to the Radio 4 programme 'Bringing up Britain' presented by Mariella Frostrup. This one was about sibling rivalry, I listened with great interest.
They mentioned the age gap between children and it got me thinking.
There is a 7 year age gap between my children, and funnily enough there's the same gap between me and my brother, Jordan.
Now from what I can remember, me and my brother got on really well (he may tell you otherwise). I think it was because we never went to the same school because of our age. I am the oldest.
Of course like any brother and sister, we had our moments - like the time I hit my brother with a golf brolly and he had a lump the size of an egg on his forehead (sorry Jordan), or the time I made him watch Michael Jackson's Thriller video and he hid behind the sofa (sorry again). Or the time... ok so we had a few occasions when we didn't get on, doesn't every brother and sister! Overall we got on great, and still do.
Now I have children of my own, and just this morning (and most mornings), my 3 year old son, Jacob, happily goes into my 10 year old daughter's bedroom and says morning.
He gets about 3 steps into Amber's room and I hear a booming voice 'Get out Jacob'. Then he completely ignores her and goes to either play her guitar, or mess up her Monster High dolls, both of which get her more angry (sibling rivalry post to come at a later date)
Our daughter is 10 going on 15 at the moment and is starting to act like a teenager (yikes)!
My husband Mark is the middle child with an older sister and a younger brother. The age gap between them is.. he is 11 months younger than his sister and 21 months older than his brother. That's 3 children under 5! I just can't imagine it. Our son is such a handful on his own! I take off my virtual hat (and real one if I was wearing one) to my mother-in-law Janet and anyone else who has children this close together.
So back to the age gap. What is the right age gap? Is there one?
Well sometimes we don't have a choice.
It took us 4 years to conceive our daughter, then 2 years with our son. It just happened to be a 7 year age gap. And now I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm just glad they have each other.
In practical ways it may become tricky when our daughter starts secondary school, because the school she would like to go to is further away than the primary that is in our village which Jacob will be attending from 2015.
But time will tell.
What's the age gap between your children?