How can I deal with siblings who don't seem to care about me?

I am one of seven brothers and sisters (3 boys and 4 girls). Lately my 17 year old sister seems to take joy in hurting my feelings because according to her I am spoiled rotten, when I truly am not. I was raised in the exact same way as all of my other siblings and punished for the same things. She calls me dependent on mom and that I’m basically stupid and immature, and it really hurts my feelings severely. What really hurts me the most, however, is that my older brother and older sister seem to always take her side and they are never around to see how rude and hateful she can be. She says horrible things to my parents and never gets punished like she should and my Mom has even told me that she doesn’t care what she does anymore because nothing my parents do gets through her head. I only have 3 siblings that seem to literally understand me and stand up for me. The others don’t seem to care about me at all which is difficult to take when you are a college student going through enough stress as it is. I hurts me because they don’t seem to care about my feelings at all because according to them I am a spoiled brat when I am not. They are so judgmental of me and not of my little sister and I just don’t want this to continue and get worse and cause me to fall out with my siblings. Someone please help me in how to cope with this and how I can deal with these hurtful things that they say or do because I don’t want to lose my brothers and sisters.

Answer #1

as long as you care about you, then you have nothing to worry about buddy

Answer #2

I’m going through the same thing and have been for many years now, realistically I truly believe that you need to think about how you are reacting/responding to her. You need to find a way to cope and at some point not care, because in my experience I’m sad to say some people do not change. Please do not take this the wrong way, but the sooner you begin to find a way to deflect her hurtful comments the sooner you will feel better.

There’s a saying ‘no one can hurt you if you don’t give them permission to’ there’s two ways which people do things. 1) be upset, cry, scream fight back 2) Ignore and say to themselves: ‘what you’re saying is not true and I will not let you hurt me or affect my life.

Learning to be emotionally intelligent and learning of ways to soothe myself when my siblings treat me badly has helped me. I can never we are just the person they take all their anger out on. That does not make it ok, and we should not have to wait for them to change and finally realise that we are good people. Get on with your life and make the best of what you have, you sound like you get on with some of your siblings - try doing things together and share your feelings.

I find running and doing physical exercise really helps me clear my mind. Just because someone is your brother/sister does not mean that they will just love you, I’m sorry if this is harsh, but I learnt the hard way, many years of hurt and low self esteem.

I hope I havent upset you with anything I have said,

Theres a great book on emotional intelligence its by Daniel Goleman

Also Tony Robbins is really good for motivational speeches if you ever feel down.

Please know you are not alone, Always share what you are feelings.

Answer #3

Going through the same thing. Have come to decide that most people are too self-absorbed to take the time to maintain close bonds with their siblings. It’s extremely hurtful but none of my siblings seem to desire the closeness I crave. The good part is you do get to choose your family - I hope you have a significant other or some other family members who are able to return the amount of kindness, affection and closeness you are able to offer.

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