what do you do to stay engaged in each others’ lives, assuming you dont get to see each other more than once or twice a year. how do you get your kids to know their uncle/aunt, and their cousins.
share best practices. Thankoo
Re: siblings living far apart
Well how we keep in touch is via skype. With the exception of my older sister who lives 10 mins away. We talk on the phone here and there.
Re: siblings living far apart
My family lives 10 mins away so I always drop by at their house for rotis/food. My hubby's family is far away so he keeps in touch via phone/skype/facebook chat or messages etc.
Re: siblings living far apart
My sister moved to Dallas after she got married, and im in Toronto.
Us siblings are constanly on a group chat on whatsapp (app on iphones/bb etc). Its a reallllly good way to constantly be in touch with each other. When one of us sibs wants to message the other, we message in that group chat even if its just a convo between 2 people. You kinda always know whats going on with everyone.
but I would love to hear ideas of how to stay close when you have kids.. how do they build a close relationship with aunts and uncles??
Re: siblings living far apart
That is the big question, specially with kids who are born and raised away from their uncles/aunts/grandparents.
We video chat with our family back in Pakistan frequently, and our son is old enough (2 yrs) to recognize everyone he sees in the video. Even though he cant talk much yet, but still, most of the video chat is spent with him babbling to his grandma and cousins on the other side. This is how everyone prefers it, and it keeps everyone in the loop. As a result, every time we go back home, our son takes little to no time getting cozy with everyone over there.
Re: siblings living far apart
There was a time when we were living apart. We had to make time to skype, sent picture messages of the kids back and forth, etc.
One thing that helped us a lot is simply staying involved as much as possible in our day to day activities. You feel like you miss each other less when you know what the other is up to.
Re: siblings living far apart
skype helps.
Re: siblings living far apart
how about Facebook? how has that worked for people
Re: siblings living far apart
face book is more like for maintenance of your social circle and all that. Anything that involves a video call at least give a proper personae to the name and a relation. maybe just because I'm not such a fan of face book personally.
Re: siblings living far apart
Facebook is fine if you've got the right privacy settings but other than that...its annoying because everyone knows what everyone's up to.
One of my friends made a private group for her family...that helps her.
Re: siblings living far apart
We visit each other every 6-12months, talk via phone, facetime, facebook, share pictures, send birthday presents and eidi, And we talk to the kids regularly so the kids remember us. I still miss my three divas though :(
Re: siblings living far apart
I call every day. Speak for at minimum 10 minutes everyday.
Re: siblings living far apart
i have 1 bro n he is in australia n i m in dubai it has been 2 years since i saw him my baby is 1 n he havent seen her yet but i make sure she c him regularly in skype n he talks to her onm skype same my nephew is 3 years n in theses 3 years i met him 3 times :) but he knows me very well even my daughter n he daily comes on skype n the first thing he says phupo can u c me n i l say yes n then he l say ALLAH ka shukr hai lolz so skype n fone r good way 2 keep in touch :)
Re: siblings living far apart
Skype and facebook.
My SO talks to his siblings and family that are overseas on skype and facebook regularly. They all post pictures when they have family functions. i.e weddings, eid and birthdays. Internet is quite convenient :D
Re: siblings living far apart
When my parents were abroad I skyped most days, it was really nice cus i never needed to miss them, i had them right there in front of me, albeit on a screen. But now they back in the UK, i just call them and my siblings every day and then go to c them maybe once a couple of months.
Re: siblings living far apart
how about Facebook? how has that worked for people
That works very well for us. I only have my family members on facebook, and I have an easy time keeping track of what class my nephews/nieces are in, how they are doing in their exams, and when their holidays are due. From our side, we tend to post pictures of our weekly outings, whether they be to the zoo, park, or just in general, and that keeps our family back home informed of how far our kid has come along.
Re: siblings living far apart
My sister is in Canada and I am in US, main thing is how good your relationships are with your own siblings, if you talk to them more often, know their kids naturally your kids will know their cousins too. Its not hard to keep track of birthdays, special events if you talk to your siblings atleast three times a week, facebook helps. When kids grow up they can talk to their cousins or text them.
Re: siblings living far apart
Sis lives in TO....other bro lives in arabia...older bro lives in waterloo... Diff timezones... All bz in their lives with jobs, kids, etc
Skype keeps me in touch with them all.... And fb is only for pics. Simple :)
Oh it helps if u have a sched
Mom i talk to nearly everyday cuz she wants to see the grandkids...
Older bro and sis are both in canada so thats a weekend thing...cuz of the ridic time difference. Sat i talk to bro at a fixed time... Sun i talk to the sis... Bro in arabia i talk to on thursdaay...which is weeked in arabia.
After each talk session, we (well mostly them since im a stay at home mom), sched a time for the next talk session... Sometimes days do get changed around,... But we dont go a whole month without talking.
All this happebed cuz i had kids. Suddenly the importance of seeing each other through skype mwant a whole lot more....i rarely use the phone to talk to family unless its with mom and a rant session is needed.... Otherwise...kids could care less bout the audio....they need visuals.
My sil also lives in TO and we dont skype as often cuz she finds it eaiser talkin on the phone..... But her son and mine will skype atleast once a month... 2 toddlers on skype...such a waste of time...but worth it in the long run :)
S skype zindabad
Re: siblings living far apart
My sister lives in Dubai....we mainly Skype..she also has a Magic Jack on her landline there, so I can call her whenever/from wherever I want to because it's just like a local number :-)
We don't do any major chatting on FB..that's more for just tagging eachother in silly YouTube videos or pics of eachother's kids
Re: siblings living far apart
Facebook.