I usually think of there being just one black sheep per family, but my siblings ended up being 50% black sheep! I have a good friend who had two sisters, both black sheep as well.
How many black sheep are in your family?
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I think my brother sort of was for a bit, but totally turned his life around in his 30s. On my mom's side I'd say there is 1, maybe 2. On my dad's side none really.
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I think I am the black sheep in my family?! DH's family has one black sheep.
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@autumnlove: No way! I find that hard to believe!!
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I started off as the black sheep, but that took a turn and now it's my brother.
My husbands eldest brother is the black sheep in his family.
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I really don't think we have one unless you count my cousin's wife. SHE is now our family's black sheep.
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No one in my immediate family, but I have a cousin who is a black sheep. Just got into some rough stuff, started stealing from my aunt and his sister and then got in trouble with the law. Total mess.
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I don't think we have any, even as far as cousins! I have one cousin who was a bit of a black sheep when he was younger, but for the most part he's on good terms with everyone now.
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My brother is the black sheep, sorta. Among my dozens of cousins on my mom and dad's side, we have maybe one more black sheep. On DH's side, no one in our generation is a black sheep...but there are a lot of black sheep among the older generation.
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None in my family
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Just one in my family. Me. I don't get into trouble or anything but I always feel like the odd one out in so many ways.
SIL is DH's family's black sheep. She is just a mess
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Are we talking like, totally alienated from the family? Or just... different and kinda out there? I think I might be confused about the definition of "black sheep".
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Growing up I was the black sheep for sure, until I got married really, maybe even after. I would say I still have the tendencies but now that I've "settled down and have children" I fit in more with my siblings and they can relate to me more, before they just saw me as a "party girl" when in reality I was a pretty normal college/young 20s kid. They both married very young so my lifestyle was weird to them, even though I think I was pretty normal
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@.twist.: I always thought black sheep meant different or odd one out. I've always felt like the black sheep!
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How do you define black sheep?
I mean, I'm totally unlike anyone else in my family. But in a good way. They are cray cray. But I don't fit in.
My brother was a black sheep for some other reasons.
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Not many. I’ve always known “black sheep” to mean a REAL, serious screw-up (criminal, drugs, legit shitty person, etc.) not just someone who liked different things or was an odd one out.
When I was little there was one cousin who was only referred to as “the black sheep” (haha, my parents and family stopped referring to him by name, they actually only would call him “black sheep”) and that was a dude who left his wife and 4 children and fled to Australia with his mistress so he wouldn’t have to pay child support. His wife was a SAHM, so she was extra screwed. I don’t know if she ever got any child support out of him.
My brother was teetering on black sheep territory for a while, but has cleaned up his act now that he’s in his 30’s. Drug and alcohol addiction, theft, etc.
I feel like my paternal grandfather may have been a bit of a black sheep. He was married and had children, and then remarried my paternal grandmother when those children were adults. Well, my grandmother was the same age as his adult children and they stopped speaking to him after he married her. So my dad and aunt have half-siblings they have met only a handful of times as children. I don’t even know what their names are to be honest; we have absolutely no contact from/with them. I didn't even learn about them until I was an adult, and have no idea how my grandfather treated his "first family" vs. his second.
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@Danizaur: Yea, that's kind of along the lines of what I think too...
My brother and I are the only big city children on our side of the family (lots of farms and town life with the rest). So, our lifestyles have been very different than that of our cousins. To the point where I had one cousin tell me that she could no longer love me because I defied everything her God loved and she loved him before me. She stopped talking to me....
However, now that we're all grown and married, my brother has a girlfriend who is less than liked and he's made some shitty decisions in the past few years. He's still loved and invited to all occasions, but we just can't figure him out.
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None on either side of the family!
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I'd say one!
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@danizaur: and @.twist.: that's the definition I think of too. No real black sheep in my family. My DH's family has one. All his immediate and extended family of his generation are pretty settled -all in relationships and most with multiple kids. Except his one cousin, the oldest, who is in his mid 40s, still single, and a bartender. The whole family still loves him, I just think they can't relate to each other.
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i'd say there's 1 (on DH's side, haha), but it's more of a gray sheep.
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I think I would be voted the black sheep.
My dad is the only white sheep in his 5 sibling family.
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Going by the drugs/criminal definition of black sheep, just SIL.
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Eh, based on how eccentric everyone is, I'd be harder pressed to find a white sheep in my family. Makes for colorful holiday gatherings. Lots of past military/ law enforcement, so little criminal element. But a fair amount of drug/alcohol use.
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I don't like that term, sorry! I think of a black sheep as a good thing.
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My husband's family has none (he just has one sister--very type A personality, successful with kids married, everything).
I have 2 possibly 3 black sheep. More like 2 reformed black sheep (they grew out of it finally) and 1 that has a mental illness so I don't think I'd really put her in that category.
6 kids, that's about 50%
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If there are any, I don't know about them. I have a lot of cousins!
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@Greentea: I think it is what you make it... some people here have said they are the black sheep because they're the good ones in the family. It's all relative.
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I guess I know two in my family and DH's family. In my family, it's my mom's sister. My mom's been estranged from her for decades because her mental health problems and behaviors became unmanageable. I've never met her.
With my husband's family, I think it's his brother. He hasn't done much with his life since graduating college almost 8 years ago. He turns 30 this year, works at a grocery store deli, and still lives at home.
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My mum was the "black sheep" of her family (7 siblings) because she chose to marry my dad (he had been married before and was a musician not a factory worker type). We still barely see that side of the family at all.
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One, me.
ETA: I get along with my family very well and we are all quite close. My family is very rural and I wanted to move to the city to pursue my education. My brother is very much a "country boy" and they didn't understand my need to move to the city. They would refer to me as "city girl" (even though I now live in the suburbs) and would tease me about certain things I was wearing because they were "so city".
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It's interesting to see the different definitions of "black sheep"! Now everyone should go back and say WHY they themselves or the family member is considered a "black sheep", haha.
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My cousin is the black sheep in my family and DH'S entire dad's side of the family are largely ignored. We share property with them and not a single one has stepped foot in our home, nor been invited to any gatherings. They are kinda sketchy.
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