Helping Older Siblings Adjust to the New Arrival

by Jennifer Shakeel

So you are having a new baby. A wonderful addition to your happy family, or so you think. I have gone through this twice. First there was just our oldest daughter, and she loved being the only child. Then we were pregnant, a surprise to us all, and we had to prepare her for a new sibling. She was three at that time, four when her baby brother was born. That was eleven years ago. Recently we added another baby, one that was planned to our family. With 14 years between our youngest and oldest and 11 years between our second and youngest, we really thought that things would go smoothly.

I should say that we worked to make sure things went smoothly. Our son had some concerns over no longer being the baby in the family, but was looking forward to being a big brother. Our oldest was excited the entire pregnancy, she couldn’t wait for the baby and was really excited when we found out we were having a girl. They both expressed some concerns over whether or not we would love them the same, if they would have the same place in our hearts. I was surprised at their ages that they still worried. Part of the reason that we waited so long for our third child was because our son did not want to not be the baby.

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