What do you think is the best spacing between children?

[Cynthia Mosher]

My children are all about two years apart and that has worked out pretty well for our family. The kids always had someone close to their age to play with, they got along well, and they went in close stages to school together. 

I, however, was alone for the first six years of my life before any siblings came along. I found it hard. I felt the gap. It made a difference between my two brothers and sisters and me as we were growing up.

What about you? What do you think is the best spacing between children? I thought I'd do a poll to find out but feel free to share your whys too. 

[Red Pajama]

My sister and I are three years apart. we were not close in school, and I don't remember playing much with her. We are close now, and I very much enjoy being at a similar life-stage as my sister.

My husband's siblings are all at about a 2 year spacing. Some are closer than others, but it's hard to relate to the siblings that are much younger than we are.  As kids, I know that the youngest two were raised by committee. That might make it easier on the parents, but it certainly hasn't done his youngest brother any favors.

My own children are twins plus a younger sister. SHe is less than 3 years younger, but not by much. THey play so very well together.  I think  much of that is just dumb luck and kid personalities. What ever caused it, I'm grateful.

So my vote for ideal spacing is about 2 1/2-3 years apart. Unless you get twins.

[mkksmom]

Before I had my kids, I would have said 3 years. However, that plan didn't work out for me, and my girls are 5 years apart. Now, I wouldn't wish for anything else. My girls aren't as competitive with each other as my friends's kids who are closer in age. Now,we are stopping at 2 because I don't want my older dd to be off on her own. But I often hear them telling one another how much they love each other. My older dd loves having a little sister to play with, and they really do play well together. I'm not saying that they never argue, but not as much as I fought with my brother who is just about 2.5 years younger than I am. Also a couple of my good friends have younger brothers who are 5 years younger, and they are very close as adults. My 1 friend talks to her brother at least a few times per week. I love my brother, but we don't talk to one other even weekly.

[Cynthia Mosher]

Raised  by committee? Do you mean older siblings did much of the caring for the younger ones with directives from the parents? Kind of Duggar style? 

The competition factor is worth considering. But on the flip side I find the older child with a sibling several years younger goes through a good bit of jealousy and frustration with the new little one taking up more of mom's time.  That probably occurs for most all children to an extent but seems to be amplified for an older child who has had a longer period of not having a younger sibling around. 

[mamazee]

My kids are seven years apart, almost to the day, and the older one didn't have any trouble with jealousy when the younger one was born. I don't know if it's her specific personality, or if that's enough years that it was easier.

I think there are positives and negatives to either choice. I'm only 14 months apart from one of my siblings, and we fought tons when kids, but we get along well now. And we did always have another kid our own age to play with, although my kids enjoy playing with each other despite the age difference. My older one is at an age where playing with little kids is fun. But it is a different style of play.

One good thing is that the older was not interested in co-sleeping anymore even occasionally at 7, so I had an easy time co-sleeping with the baby, but OTOH I know a lot of kids still like to co-sleep at 7.

And it would be great to be done with diapers early, but then again it's easier to be diapering just one than two. And the older one is old enough to take the little one to the potty with her if we're out and it's inconvenient to drop everything to go to the potty.

They don't fight over toys because they are interested in completely different toys at their ages.

[Red Pajama]

In "rasied by committee" I don't mean the parents abdicated decisions. I mean there was both a lot of sibling help (good) and sibling meddling (not so good). Older siblings, weather justified or not, felt that they had authority over the youngest brother. So he retreated into his room, and hid on the computer. And that's pretty much were he still is, 15+ years later.

In the idea of older sibling jealousy of younger sibling's arrival, I think that's where age and luck play a part. I've been told stories about how my sister (3 years older) handled it when I arrived-- she offered my grandfather (a dairy farmer) a trade: me for a calf. He declined. She re-offered: me for a dead calf.  Ha!  At least she likes me now!   

[bmcneal]

My DD and my DS are almost exactly 3 years apart. It's worked pretty well for us. They are close enough that they like to play together, but far enough apart that they don't always want to play with the exact same thing at the exact same time.

DS and this new baby will be a bit more than 4 years apart. It'll be interesting to see what their dynamics are. 

[marsupial-mom]

I think 3-4 years is ideal. That way they each get a lot of individual attention.

[Asiago]

I like the idea of natural birth spacing, or interbirth interval, of 3-5 years, or 3.5 to 6 years, (depending upon source).

[mambera]

I think the children's relationships will be mostly shaped by their individual personalities and how they happen to mesh.  Some sibling pairs will do better with a closer spacing, others with a larger one.  Since one can't predict how this will work out a priori, I think it's pointless to try to select for any particular sibling spacing other than the one that works best for the needs/schedule/ability of the family as a whole.

[sparklefairy]

At least an arm's length apart. Further if either is holding something that can reach the other, including as a projectile.

[sparklefairy]

Mine are two years apart. It's great in some ways. Challenging in other ways. And I was completely joking above. I loved watching mine play together when they were little

[RebeccaJF]

Originally Posted by Red Pajama 

In "rasied by committee" I don't mean the parents abdicated decisions. I mean there was both a lot of sibling help (good) and sibling meddling (not so good). Older siblings, weather justified or not, felt that they had authority over the youngest brother. So he retreated into his room, and hid on the computer. And that's pretty much were he still is, 15+ years later.

I was raised in a big family as well - I was the oldest. My parents were very picky about what the older siblings were allowed/not allowed to do for the younger siblings. I got in trouble when I tried to use "authority" I hadn't been given. I really think that the issue is with the parents not the older siblings.

I don't know that there are any "right" ways to decide spacing of kids. Personally, my three boys are around 2 years apart mostly because at a certain point, my husband and I started yearning for another one. I firmly believe that the addition of each child does not diminish the love you have for your existing child/ren, instead, it causes your heart to grow with more love. This thought has also allowed us to foster 8 children in the past 5 years while we are raising our bio kids and have enough love to go around.

[onlyzombiecat]

I voted 2 years.

I only have one child and if we had another baby somehow there would now be a 13 year age gap. I think there can be good things about any spacing or family size but that seems a bit much to me for kids to really feel like they are siblings.

Dh and I both have siblings with different age gaps.

My two siblings were born 1 year apart and then I came along 3 years after. I think because they were closer in age and the first boy and the first girl that they were more equal. They went through stages very close together. They knew the same people at school. They did not like to play with or hang out with me very much growing up because I was 3 or 4 years younger.

Dh has a sibling who is a couple of years older, a sibling who was 8 years younger, 2 siblings who are about 20 years younger and a sibling who is about 30 years younger. I think he shared more experiences with the sibling who is closest in age. I think the  8 year gap created more responsibility from dh for the younger sibling... maybe felt more like a mentor/babysitter than a playmate. He was not as close to her as he would have liked to have been. The 20 and 30 year gap make the kids more like nieces or nephews than siblings. I suppose an advantage of the larger gap is kids not going off to college all at once and having the older child to help with the younger ones as another parent type figure.

[phathui5]

2-3 years is my preference. I like it when the older kid can do things like walk and maybe even go to the bathroom. 

[LariVP]

I'll say is 2 years, that is what has worked for us. There's an almost 5 year age gap between DD1 and DD2 and DD1 could careless about her little sisters, she will play sometimes with DD2, I guess that's just the way she is, I hope this changes as they get older. 

[beanma]

Mine are 2 yrs 9mos apart. I would have preferred 2.5 yrs, but for various reasons 2 yrs 9 mo is what worked out. We have two girls and they play great together. They have much of the same interests and really enjoy being with each other.

Not sure about the details of "natural birth spacing", but I nursed dd1 until she was 5 and tandemed with the two of them. 

I am 6.5 and 9 yrs distant from my sibs and am not very close to either of them. I wouldn't mind seeing more of my sister (and less of my brother!). The kids in DH's family of origin are 3 yrs apart. He's the youngest of 3 and isn't particularly close to his sibs either. His family was boy girl boy and mine was boy girl girl. 

[Quinalla]

My DD will be 3.5 when the twins arrive. I don't know if it is best for them, but it certainly seems like good spacing to me as DD is independent enough, sleeping through the night, etc. that I can conceive of adding infants to the mix again. For me, I wouldn't want to space any closer than 2.5 years, and 3 or so seems pretty great to me. I am getting twins though too, so zero spacing there, should be interesting

My siblings and I were ~1.5 years apart. I liked it, but then we got along well and from what I've seen most siblings don't. We are are all even closer now that we are adults. My Mom said it was very hard when we were all little, but she said it was actually great once she got through that as we entertained each other very well.

[Evari]

I don't think there is an optimal spacing. I have an only child and if she's to have a sibling at all, she'll be 12+. She's almost 10 as is and I have no intent of having another right now, so for me to decide to have another, plan, and then carry through with either and adoption or a pregnancy as a single parent would be at least a couple years' process. And by that time it'd be almost like two only children, which I'm totally cool with.

IF I were to have chosen to have another child when she was younger, I'd have ideally chosen 1-2 years gaps, just for convenience sake. Get the diapers and baby stuff out of the way in one big fell swoop. And besides that they'd be either really good playmates, or spectacularly terrible squabblers. If it's the latter, the age that they could be reasoned with and the behaviour taken care of would be in the same time frame too, due to the closeness in age, so the worst years would be over quicker!

[chel]

I'll give a positive shout out for large age gaps. My kids are almost 10yrs apart.
Not planned, but I knew I never wanted kids close together. My oldest was very high needs and I had little outside support.

Overall I love the spacing. My oldest loved being an only, but also loves her little sister. Not sure if the gender of the youngest really matters, but I think having an older girl brings out a nurturing role when the younger comes along.
While the oldest babysits, she is mostly at school and the off with friends.

The youngest loves all the one on one time, but also loves tagging along to big kid stuff like band concerts, school sports, etc.

Personally, I have siblings between 20m and 9yr spacing. I'm closest to my sibling of the same gender, next would be similar personality, last would be age.