How important are your childs cousins to you?

Question

As a family? How often does your child play with them...if your kids are older are they still friends?

Answer 1

Very important, because they are the children of my siblings and my husband's siblings and they are the people who will be my children's family when we -the adults- are all gone.

I'd love to live closely, and see them all more often, but we all live in different countries- 6 siblings in 6 countries!  I'd move to be closer in a second, if it were at all practical. As it is my children see all of their cousins one to three times a year, for a few weeks at a time. And of course since it's not so often it's a reason for celebration, but I think I'd rather have less celebration, more contact :)  My children adore-really adore-their cousins, and it is mutual. There is so much to be learned and shared with cousins and it is a unique relationship. If I could do it again, I'd stay closer to my family, in particular to my sister and her children (who also happen to live nearer my mother).

Answer 2

Your family is the most important thing in the world and it seems you guys are very close. If I was as lucky as you to have such close family around I wouldn't move. I have an older sister with a 2 yr old girl and my daughter is 1.5 yrs old and they have never met before, they never ever call us either. My sister is a wonderer and hates all of her family (she has issues) and my husbands brother hates his whole family as well so my daughter never see's any of her cousins, well she has never met any of them and I would love for her to have close contact with them. My husband and I was only planning to have 1 child but since she has no contact with her cousins we have decided to have another child so she can have someone (currently preggies yippie) so count yourself lucky and don't move coz the kids will eventually grow apart and in a few yrs they won't want much at all to do with each other.

Answer 3

Well I love my nieces and nephews.

I have 3 nephews and 2 nieces and my partner has one of each.

They do vary in age:

Summer- 11

Dakota- 4

Caleb- 5

Mia- 4

Connor- 2 weeks old

Kayci -3

Shay- 7 weeks old

My daughter is 2 but she loves playing with all her cousins.

She sees them all about once a fortnight but sometimes even more regular. But I do live a little further away from them than they do each other. If I lived closer we would see them more

Answer 4

Very

We are a close family and although I live about 1 hour away I make the effort for my daughter to see her cousins at least once a week they are like best friends and talk on the phone at least evey other day.

They are also very protective of one another

Answer 5

My son only has 1 cousin from his dad's side of the family.  My son is 1, and his cousin is 10.  They don't see each other that often as the cousin has other relatives he sees more frequently.

However when my brother and sister have children they will be brought up close to my son and any other kids I have by then.  I believe families should be close together.

Answer 6

Extremely important. I think the extended family gives you support and pleasure. My children play with their cousins at every opportunity and the older ones help look after the younger ones. It helps teach respect as they have to abide to the  natural pecking order!

Answer 7

Not at all.  The ones who are her first cousins never keep in touch, and even when we lived very close by, would pass our house without acknowledgement.  So, they do not matter a jot.

On the other side of the family, there are many second cousins, and my daughter likes some of them.  She feels good to be part of a big family, it seems to make her happy.

So, it depends on the cousin.

As for moving away, I wouldn't not move because of family, if I believed life in the new place would be good.  You can still keep in touch.  Certainly in my family people move very far, and no-one is bothered.  I have cousins across the world, and I feel as connected to them as to the ones not far away.  It can do you alot of good to live away from the family - discourage dependence and encourage individuality.

Answer 8

My nephews and nieces are very important to me, and they were close to my son. My son was three and they are five and six, so they weren't too far apart in age. We live close and so they always come round.

Answer 9

My twin nephews who are 5 months older than my son live on the other side of the Atlantic so he's never met them.  He's 4 months and they are 9 months.  My husband has a niece who is one today.  I'm not sure what kind of relationship they will have because her family is wealthy and flaunts it and I don't want my son subjected to that kind of abuse his older siblings are.  They are 12, 11, and 10. The one year old niece has older siblings that play with my husband's children and it's not fun for them since they get it rubbed in their face that they don't have the same things their cousins have.  Sad really.  I had a wonderful relationship with my oldest cousin.

Answer 10

Our family is really close so my kids see their cousins quite often. There are 11 cousins in total ranging in ages from 12 to newborn, and my son is 3 and my daughter 3 months. We often have a few over for sleepovers and vice versa. It's really nice I think, but also we all live within 45 minutes of each other, and for some families it's not possible to see each other that often. I personally think it's important though, one day all the parents won't be around and they can hopefully have each other!

Answer 11

Oh very ..my brothers children are very close to mine Chelsey my brothers daughter is just nine months older than my twins, they grew up together and their son Ewan is 3 and adores Kylie my daughter ..well so far so good they do have their little spats though !

Answer 12

Talking as a teenager, my mum is the youngest of nine, and is 50, her brothers and sisters have all had children, and most of them have had children, and i have only met 1 or 2 of my cousin from that situation, and they live a long way away, so i cannot see them. On my dads side, i have 4 cousins, 2 i have only seen 4/5 times in my life, and the other 2 i see every christmas.

I feel i have missed out on a lot not having my cousins in my life, as they would be support and friends. If I were you I would not move, as cousins are such important part of peoples lives.

I wish you the best of luck making your decision, I hope you do the best for yourself and the family :)

Answer 13

very, they live across the street from me and we are a close family group  

Answer 14

We live an hour from 3 of her cousins, and 2.5 hours from the other (and one on the way). It is important for us to get together when we can though. I grew up not really knowing my cousins very well and I always hated that, though that could have been magnified by the fact that I was an only child.

I am very excited that my daughter, who is 18 months old, and my due-this-month daughter, will have several cousins thanks to my husband having sisters. Ages 8, 5, 3, 17 months, and one more due in December. Especially the two younger cousins - The one is just one month younger than my daughter, and the one on the way will be just 3 months younger than mine who is due this month. I think this will just be a blast at family functions. I definitely wish we all lived closer together though, because we only all get together a few times a year.

You and your child won't "lose" anyone, but yes it will be an adjustment if you are used to being around them.  

Answer 15

I have quite a few cousins I've not seen for 20 years! They live 3.5 hours away. Mum went to visit last week along with her brothers, and they were talking about how when their generation dies, that it'll be really sad there won't be much contact with the relatives out there and then looked at me all accusingly!! I did point out that she never took us to see them when we were kids, and they barely came to see us (like once), so how on earth could we be expected to keep up a close relationship?

You must have a really good reason for wanting to move.  

Answer 16

my cousins were my friends.  i had strict parents who wouldn't let me have friends.  plus the kids at school were so mean to me and no one wanted to be my friend.

however my cousins were different, i was allowed to go to there house and do normal kid things.  they were my friends.  they were and still are important to me.

i have my regular friends then i have my cousins who i am so tight with.