Hellobee Boards

My sons are 20 months apart which is exactly what I wanted. I feel like it will be hard in the beginning but will love the benefits later on. My brother and I are 4 years apart which I felt was too long an age gap. If we have a 3rd, it will probably be a 2.5 - 3 year age gap.

@californiadreams: I am 4.5 years older than my brother. Here is what I think of as pros and cons of that age difference.

Pros:
- I definitely was the "baby" in my family for a long time and wasn't really jealous when my brother was born. I loved helping out when he was a baby.
- I was able to read and play independently when he was little so I know that helped my parents out.
- I was able to babysit him from a pretty early age.
- I protected him fiercely from the neighborhood bullies!

Cons:
- We weren't really that close growing up. I was pretty independent and always thought of him as "the baby." As adults, we have a good relationship, but he's not like a best friend.
- Our activities never overlapped so my parents were always driving us one place or another.

FWIW, I will probably aim for a 2.5-3 year age gap for my own kids, but that's mostly for me to get the pregnancy/newborn years out of the way. I won't worry about it too much if it doesn't work out that way.

I think 2-3 years is great. My sister and I are 2 years apart and were quite close growing up. Unfortunately, I just can't handle having kids spaced so close together with my very busy work situation and no family living in the area. If we do have a second child, our kids will be more like 3.5 - 5 years apart.