Half: Brothers and Sisters 

Regular readers of my blog will know that I have five children from two marriages. The oldest three are from my first marriage and my five year old twin girls are from my second marriage. 

When my wife and I found out she was pregnant, which we found out was going to be twins, I had one overwhelming fear which was how accepting will my older children be at having two new half sisters?

My worry and fear was that I didn’t want them to feel in any way that they were less loved or thought of or wanted by me. I may be having more children by somebody other than their mother, but it wouldn’t alter how much I loved them. 

After I divorced my first wife my biggest aim and intention was to be a huge part of my children’s lives whether that be attending parents evening, sports day or any other event they were involved with. They also stayed with myself and my wife on a regular weekly basis. This was vital to me that they realised I wasn’t going anywhere. I was their dad and was going to be in their lives whether they like it or not. Haha! 

So when my wife was expecting our twins I knew there could be a danger that an element of jealousy could creep into the relationship and that they’d think dad hasn’t got enough time for us. It was very important for me that they were reassured that was not going to happen, but the reality was I was going to have to divide my time. Because when the twins were born premature and spent 27 days in neo-natal which happened to be 40 miles from where we lived, I had to prioritise and obviously my wife and twins girls had to come first. 

My older children were incredibly supportive and were never more than a phone call away to find out how their new baby sisters were doing. I could not have asked for more. They realised that dad had to fully concentrate his time on their twin sisters. The danger of course was things could have been so different, but thankfully they showed a level of maturity not often seen in teenagers which made me burst with pride and love. 

Growing up, I had half brothers and sisters and step siblings and the petty jealousies and constant fighting for attention especially from my father. It eventually left me very disillusioned and I decided to have no contact and unfortunately that is the case to this day. 

So having children from two marriages meant it was so important to me that my older children accepted their new half sisters. Thankfully I didn’t need to worry. My older children have never seen my twin girls as anything other than their twin sisters. This gives me such a feeling of satisfaction that they are bonded so completely with their twin sisters. The twins of course idolise their older siblings and are always talking about their older sisters and brothers in school or probably to anybody who will listen.

When I was growing up it was less likely to have half siblings because of the nature of society then where marriages stayed together when they probably shouldn’t have. Today of course sadly more marriages end in divorce of course increasing the likelihood of having half siblings and I suppose that could be the reason why my older children see their half twin sisters as sisters, nothing more nothing less. 


It’s a lovely thought that although they are not full brothers and sisters, they have a bond that will last a lifetime. When I see my five children together my feeling of love is overwhelming for them all because the sibling bond is I believe is the strongest relationship there is when it’s given the opportunity to develop naturally. When I’m no longer here I know they will always look after each other. 

What more could a father wish for?

Would love to know if you have any experience of this issue?