Expecting too much?

My brother has held Daniel once after my cousin gave him a lot of sh*t for never having done it (he was 14 months old at this time). I know it's never going to happen so don't worry about it.

my sisters kids are much older than mine and they all adore each other.... in fact my oldest is having a sleep over with aunty tonight....

my husbands sister on the other hand... she says she is excited and so on but she just falls short in the aunty stakes. and it is her loss...

fleury wrote: Remember they have their own lives too, and may not be overly interested in their niece.

Of course I know they have their own lives. I think that family is important and that showing a bit of effort doesn't take much.

My sister is fantastic with all of my kids, infact when I had Conor she kind of became my "surrogate" partner and helped me out alot, infact she still does... and now that shes preggers I'll be able to return the favour.

As for DH's brother, he's freaken useless. He never calls, texts or calls DH. Forgot DH's, Mine and Conors birthdays, but remembered Nyahs and Coopers, and that was only because we invited him to their combined party. He makes no effort whatsoever to see the kids, and it farks me off. DH makes no effort in getting him to see the kids either, they hardly know him, they have no relationship with him at all and I guess I just have to accept that, it is his loss.

haha put it this way , my brother today said "i met a girl who was born the day after Caitlyn ....the 29th of June "
" oh really ?" said i ," thats interesting, considering Caitlyn's birthday is the EIGHTH of June "

I agree with the others who have said - how close are you normally to your siblings? I have 13 nieces and nephews, and a great-niece - they range in age from 7 months to 26 years old (I'm 25).

Growing up, I had a lot to do with the first 7 nieces and nephews, as we were all very close in age, 2 of them lived with us for a short time, and I lived with one of my sisters and her 3 kids for a short time as well. Since "growing up" though, and going out and doing my own thing, and living in different parts of the North Island, I rarely see any of them. I've never seen my youngest niece (7 mths) as my sister and her partner live in Aussie. I've seen my next oldest nephew (3) once when we went to ChCh. Have never met my great-niece, even though during the day she is cared for by my sister who lives across the road (I am at work while she's there). I see that same sister and her 2 youngest every few days depending on if we cross paths.

Do I feel like I should make more of an effort? Hrmm....not really. I saw lots of one aunt and uncle when I was growing up, but not much of the others. I think that they had their own lives etc and for us, it's just not what our family is like (not hugely close) so yeah. I wouldn't expect anymore (from my family).

When I was growing up I only got to see my cousins during Christmas holidays' at the beach even though we all lived in the same city. We didn't even go to each others weddings or 21sts, my parents did but we're not close.

I will probably go to my nieces 21sts, but I think birthdays are for the kids and their friends not for lots of old relatives.

My brother adores Issy and was waiting in the waiting room as she was delivered .. however I never would have expected it and I dont really expect him (or any of my other friends) to dote on her just because they are related or me

I chose to have her .. they didnt ...

All my siblings are very much interested in Kahtrell, even my older brother who is a little lost in the head holds him and talks to him. I have a huge family, with lots of neices and nephews ranging from 18yo down to 8 months and we love them all. Because we live so spread apart we don't get to see each other as often as before sometimes once a year for some, but we still stay in regular contact. DP's family is the same, though they're not as far away as my family are. 

yea i suppose it does depend how close you were before you had kids. me and my sis are really close. i ring her a couple of times a day and i actualy look after her kids for 30 hours a week so she can go to work (for $80.lol) though i hold down a job as well. hamish stays nights here on holidays and i hang out with them on days we coth have off or weekends and go to hamishs rugby games every now and then. i was only 18 or so when he was born so i was pretty slack then but now im older we are really close and she makes sure i dont have plans on the day she is holding their birthday parties or she'll change them.

if you family used to visit and ring but down now id be really upset. but if they werent involved much before the kids then i wouldnt expect it to change too much. i know its pretty rough and id be upset but unless you were close before they probably see no reason for that to change