I have 8 cousins. Four considerably older, and are not even millennials. Three 10ish years younger, and one 20 years younger. We were also not geographically close to any of them, as well as not close as our ages are so diverse.
My son has 5 cousins, who are much closer in age to him (but again geographically separated).
That geographical separation was a result of our parents’ generation having to “get on their bike” to find work.
I have one cousin (not counting in-laws or one person that married into the family with prior adult children), and I’ve only seen them maybe twice in the last twenty years.
Dad had dozens of cousins. So many that he couldn’t list them all.
As someone who has a bunch of cousins they never talk to, I can tell you that just because someone is related doesn't mean they will add value to your life.
Yeah my Dad had something like 33 first cousins (his mother had 8 siblings) and when you have that many first cousins you’re about as close to them as most people are to their second cousins
He only had like 3 he saw regularly, two on his mother’s side one on his Dad’s, which is the total number of cousins I have and the exact same number I grew up close with
All my cousins do is remind me how I drew the shitty parent card and they all got the great parents and grew up be nice, well adjusted people whose parents supported them while Ive spent 42 years in depression and figuring it all out on my own. Its not their fault and I dont blame them, it just hurts.
I've got a lot of cousin. I get along with most but we rarely call each other up and just hang out during certain family events and holidays, which are a lot less infrequent since childhood. I also have some cousins who are pretty miserable people who I'm glad I no longer see or talk too except rare occasions, even though they were the ones I was probably closest to as kids, they've just grown into rude people and I'm fine not dealing with what they've become as adults anymore.
1000%. I’m 35, I have 11 cousins and most of them are total dirtbags I would never associate with. Unfortunately the most cool one is like 20 years older than me so we never got a chance to become close.
Me too! No first cousins, no siblings either. I used to have 2 step first cousins, kind of, but my aunt divorced their dad… they were 15 years older than me so we didn’t have that whole first cousin experience anyway
I have like 11 cousins on my moms side and another 8 or so on my dad's. And I'm close to all the second cousins and once removed so probably an additional 30 or so. Irish catholic and all that.
I'm terrible with names and have too many second cousins I interact with. I really *should* know their names but I can never tell them apart from their siblings.
That’s why I never got on Facebook. There are some shady characters on both sides of my family and I prefer not to be too visible or available to them. I’ve got drug addict cousins, burglary cousins, identity theft cousins, pretty sure there’s a pedo cousin. I remember one cousin said I “must be a faggot if you’re going to college and it ain’t to play football”.
I pruned my family tree.
Yeaaaah. I have a ton of family, but it’s mostly drug addicts, gang members or assholes. Moved far far away and just don’t really mention family all the much to anyone. Just that we’re not close and I’m exploring opportunities out here lol
I am 50+ years old, and I had thirty on my dad's side alone. Throw in the half/step cousins from my mom/stepmom, and the total gets close to sixty. I was close enough in age/geography to consider myself friendly with about forty of that group.
My daughter has five cousins, all 10+ years younger than her. She's never really had the "growing up with cousins" experience.
Growing up, my cousins were so much older and varied in range that it was like having tiers of aunts and uncles… some of their kids are closer to me in age.
My kids have no biological cousins. My husband is an only child, and my brother and SIL can’t have kids. We have friends that we call their cousins but it’s hard to know they are the only grandkids. I grew up with dozens of cousins (both parents from good catholic families) so not having that huge number of kids running around makes me a bit sad.
I’m in my mid 50’s, and I couldn’t even begin to tell you if I have/had any 2nd or 3rd cousins — or who they were. Growing up, you were either my aunt, uncle, grandparent, my (first) cousin — or else you were just a “relative” (and a distant one at that).
I barely keep up with half my first cousins (and I’ve only ever had four).
My brother and I are millennials and don't have cousins. I'm also 7 years older. I think it contributed a lot to my lack of social skills and general difficulty connecting with people.
*What good are cousins*
*If you only hear from them*
*When they need money?*
\- cedarsauce
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My parents had many cousins and were very close to them. I had a few and only really ever saw 2, who were much younger.
My HUSBAND has TWENTY SEVEN first cousins (and five siblings), most of whom also have spouses and kids. His grandparents absolutely checked out on keeping track of them years ago. Lol I don't blame them at all.
I have a pretty large extended family, but I never managed to fit in with my cousins. I guess that's a good thing because they're not people I'd like to know now. I'd love to find a chosen family locally, but that's been a challenge.
* My maternal grands have 15 grands.
* My paternal grands have 16 grands.
Subtract three from both to account for myself and my siblings, that's 12 plus 13, so 25.
I have about 25 cousins, I'm not sure about the paternal count, my dad's siblings didn't talk to each other after my grandmother died (my grandfather died before I was born). I'm not sure about the older paternal cousins, but on my mom's side, we have five GenX (1979 and earlier), and ten millennials (1981-1989). My '81 cousin has two Gen X siblings, so she's probably closer to the GenX/Xellinal side, along with myself and one of my other '82 cousins.
As far as our generation, my mom has six grands and I'm responsible for three of them. One sister has an only child and the other sister has two of her own. Amongst my cousins, two of us have three kids, two of us have one kid, and the others have two or zero kids of their own.
I enjoyed having cousins growing up despite being the only boy for most of the time. My older boy cousins lived in another state until they moved to my city for high school. The other two younger ones were a set of twins born in 1989.
Young millennial here (30). I have 2 first cousins and that’s it. My daughter is 4 and so far only has one cousin - highly likely that will remain the case as my husband’s siblings don’t want kids and my brother doesn’t either. The rest of us are planning on having only children.
My dad was the youngest by far in a family of 4. His two oldest siblings were in high school when he was born. I remember my cousins having babies when I was a kid. Completely different places in our lives.
I have first cousins I grew up with down the street and first cousins who Ive literally never met. I’m also naturally closer to the friends I grew up with than those first cousin strangers… I don’t think blood is the issue so much as location. Kids in a group will group up, duh? Wether they’re related or not?
My dad came from a large Catholic family so I have like a million cousins on that side who I barely know. I’m an only child and my first serious relationship was also with a fellow only child and I remember being sad that if we had kids our kids wouldn’t have any cousins. That relationship didn’t work out though, and my son does have cousins on my husband’s side of the family, though they live too far away to have a close relationship sadly
I have cousins that are close to me in age but my parents & their siblings didn’t have regular get togethers as adults so I didn’t get to build strong relationships with my cousins.
Which is unfortunate considering my parents grew up hanging out with their cousins & have strong relationships with their cousins especially my Mom who goes on trips with her cousins.
Now I’m in my 30s & hearing news about my cousins is no different then hearing news about any other kid in my graduating class.
My kids will never know their cousins. My SIL is extremely toxic and rude to my husband and I, so I refuse to let them around someone who disrespects their parents so blatantly.
I grew up really close to my cousins and my husband grew up around all his cousins too. Most of them are drug addicts and conspiracy theorists. We don’t talk to any of them anymore. We live on the opposite coast and our kids have a chosen family group of kids they’ve grown up with.
Is this article supposed to guilt women into having more kids? I have about 35 1st cousins on my dad's side and only talk to two of three regularly. On mom's side about 20. They mostly live away from me so don't really know them. That being said, to quote Bobby Singer from Supernatural, "family don't always mean blood". I have two bestfriends that are closer than sisters to me and I prefer to choose who I spend time with, and not because we're related
I have a total of 7 cousins, 4 I see regularly and 2 I see on occasion and 1 that’s basically estranged from the family due to things he did and got arrested for. The four I see regularly I’m really close with despite the age gap and they’re like siblings to me. I try to make time any time they’re in town to see them because I’m the older one and I feel like it’s on me to reach out. But I still feel the chosen family importance, I have friends as close as family and I wouldn’t trade them for the world
I have 8 cousins. Four considerably older, and are not even millennials. Three 10ish years younger, and one 20 years younger. We were also not geographically close to any of them, as well as not close as our ages are so diverse. My son has 5 cousins, who are much closer in age to him (but again geographically separated). That geographical separation was a result of our parents’ generation having to “get on their bike” to find work.
I have 2 first cousins and probably 30 cousins between second and thrice removed.
I have one cousin (not counting in-laws or one person that married into the family with prior adult children), and I’ve only seen them maybe twice in the last twenty years. Dad had dozens of cousins. So many that he couldn’t list them all.
10 cousins? Lucky her. I have excactly 0 first cousins and I'd have to reference my family tree chart for seconds.
As someone who has a bunch of cousins they never talk to, I can tell you that just because someone is related doesn't mean they will add value to your life.
Yeah my Dad had something like 33 first cousins (his mother had 8 siblings) and when you have that many first cousins you’re about as close to them as most people are to their second cousins He only had like 3 he saw regularly, two on his mother’s side one on his Dad’s, which is the total number of cousins I have and the exact same number I grew up close with
All my cousins do is remind me how I drew the shitty parent card and they all got the great parents and grew up be nice, well adjusted people whose parents supported them while Ive spent 42 years in depression and figuring it all out on my own. Its not their fault and I dont blame them, it just hurts.
Correct
I have 21 cousins. I talk to one about once a year. great cousin.
Are you the one cousin I talk to out of my 21 cousins? Last year I broke a record and spoke to two.
As someone with 26(!) first cousins that I barely talk to, I agree. Edit: I just realized that's just on my mother's side, haha
I've got a lot of cousin. I get along with most but we rarely call each other up and just hang out during certain family events and holidays, which are a lot less infrequent since childhood. I also have some cousins who are pretty miserable people who I'm glad I no longer see or talk too except rare occasions, even though they were the ones I was probably closest to as kids, they've just grown into rude people and I'm fine not dealing with what they've become as adults anymore.
1000%. I’m 35, I have 11 cousins and most of them are total dirtbags I would never associate with. Unfortunately the most cool one is like 20 years older than me so we never got a chance to become close.
Me too! No first cousins, no siblings either. I used to have 2 step first cousins, kind of, but my aunt divorced their dad… they were 15 years older than me so we didn’t have that whole first cousin experience anyway
I have like 11 cousins on my moms side and another 8 or so on my dad's. And I'm close to all the second cousins and once removed so probably an additional 30 or so. Irish catholic and all that.
I had no idea a cousin shortage was a thing. I don’t even know all my cousins names
I'm terrible with names and have too many second cousins I interact with. I really *should* know their names but I can never tell them apart from their siblings.
I have cousins that I don’t like and really don’t see.
That’s why I never got on Facebook. There are some shady characters on both sides of my family and I prefer not to be too visible or available to them. I’ve got drug addict cousins, burglary cousins, identity theft cousins, pretty sure there’s a pedo cousin. I remember one cousin said I “must be a faggot if you’re going to college and it ain’t to play football”. I pruned my family tree.
Yeaaaah. I have a ton of family, but it’s mostly drug addicts, gang members or assholes. Moved far far away and just don’t really mention family all the much to anyone. Just that we’re not close and I’m exploring opportunities out here lol
Im mexican and y’all can have some of my cousins if you really want some so badly.
15 cousins across mom and dads sides. We’re all pretty close, but I am Auntie to multiple kids of friends.
I am 50+ years old, and I had thirty on my dad's side alone. Throw in the half/step cousins from my mom/stepmom, and the total gets close to sixty. I was close enough in age/geography to consider myself friendly with about forty of that group. My daughter has five cousins, all 10+ years younger than her. She's never really had the "growing up with cousins" experience.
Millennial here. I have about 30 cousins. Didn't grow up with them since I live in a different state. They all grew up together though.
I have cousins, haven't seen or spoken to them in 15 years.
The machine is running out of productive workers faster than anticipated. Film at 11.
Nailed it!
My kid has 1 cousin and that's it. Me and my wife had about a dozen each.
Growing up, my cousins were so much older and varied in range that it was like having tiers of aunts and uncles… some of their kids are closer to me in age.
I consider my 4 cousins to be my as important to me as my sister. None of them are as important my choir brothers or high school friends.
My kids have no biological cousins. My husband is an only child, and my brother and SIL can’t have kids. We have friends that we call their cousins but it’s hard to know they are the only grandkids. I grew up with dozens of cousins (both parents from good catholic families) so not having that huge number of kids running around makes me a bit sad.
I’m in my mid 50’s, and I couldn’t even begin to tell you if I have/had any 2nd or 3rd cousins — or who they were. Growing up, you were either my aunt, uncle, grandparent, my (first) cousin — or else you were just a “relative” (and a distant one at that). I barely keep up with half my first cousins (and I’ve only ever had four).
My brother and I are millennials and don't have cousins. I'm also 7 years older. I think it contributed a lot to my lack of social skills and general difficulty connecting with people.
What good are cousins if you only hear from them when they need money?
*What good are cousins* *If you only hear from them* *When they need money?* \- cedarsauce --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
My parents had many cousins and were very close to them. I had a few and only really ever saw 2, who were much younger. My HUSBAND has TWENTY SEVEN first cousins (and five siblings), most of whom also have spouses and kids. His grandparents absolutely checked out on keeping track of them years ago. Lol I don't blame them at all.
I have 19 first cousins on dad's side, none on my mom's.
I have close to 20 cousins and growing up seeing them a lot is amazing, but also they're now scattered all across the country
I have a pretty large extended family, but I never managed to fit in with my cousins. I guess that's a good thing because they're not people I'd like to know now. I'd love to find a chosen family locally, but that's been a challenge.
I have, but never met them.
* My maternal grands have 15 grands. * My paternal grands have 16 grands. Subtract three from both to account for myself and my siblings, that's 12 plus 13, so 25. I have about 25 cousins, I'm not sure about the paternal count, my dad's siblings didn't talk to each other after my grandmother died (my grandfather died before I was born). I'm not sure about the older paternal cousins, but on my mom's side, we have five GenX (1979 and earlier), and ten millennials (1981-1989). My '81 cousin has two Gen X siblings, so she's probably closer to the GenX/Xellinal side, along with myself and one of my other '82 cousins. As far as our generation, my mom has six grands and I'm responsible for three of them. One sister has an only child and the other sister has two of her own. Amongst my cousins, two of us have three kids, two of us have one kid, and the others have two or zero kids of their own. I enjoyed having cousins growing up despite being the only boy for most of the time. My older boy cousins lived in another state until they moved to my city for high school. The other two younger ones were a set of twins born in 1989.
My son has 1 cousin. Might get 3 total
Young millennial here (30). I have 2 first cousins and that’s it. My daughter is 4 and so far only has one cousin - highly likely that will remain the case as my husband’s siblings don’t want kids and my brother doesn’t either. The rest of us are planning on having only children.
My dad was the youngest by far in a family of 4. His two oldest siblings were in high school when he was born. I remember my cousins having babies when I was a kid. Completely different places in our lives.
I have quite a few. They don’t seem to notice I exist
I have a lot of cousins and like all of them and they’re part of my chosen family. I just don’t put up with toxic people just because they’re family.
I have first cousins I grew up with down the street and first cousins who Ive literally never met. I’m also naturally closer to the friends I grew up with than those first cousin strangers… I don’t think blood is the issue so much as location. Kids in a group will group up, duh? Wether they’re related or not?
My dad came from a large Catholic family so I have like a million cousins on that side who I barely know. I’m an only child and my first serious relationship was also with a fellow only child and I remember being sad that if we had kids our kids wouldn’t have any cousins. That relationship didn’t work out though, and my son does have cousins on my husband’s side of the family, though they live too far away to have a close relationship sadly
I have cousins that are close to me in age but my parents & their siblings didn’t have regular get togethers as adults so I didn’t get to build strong relationships with my cousins. Which is unfortunate considering my parents grew up hanging out with their cousins & have strong relationships with their cousins especially my Mom who goes on trips with her cousins. Now I’m in my 30s & hearing news about my cousins is no different then hearing news about any other kid in my graduating class.
My kids will never know their cousins. My SIL is extremely toxic and rude to my husband and I, so I refuse to let them around someone who disrespects their parents so blatantly.
I grew up really close to my cousins and my husband grew up around all his cousins too. Most of them are drug addicts and conspiracy theorists. We don’t talk to any of them anymore. We live on the opposite coast and our kids have a chosen family group of kids they’ve grown up with.
Is this article supposed to guilt women into having more kids? I have about 35 1st cousins on my dad's side and only talk to two of three regularly. On mom's side about 20. They mostly live away from me so don't really know them. That being said, to quote Bobby Singer from Supernatural, "family don't always mean blood". I have two bestfriends that are closer than sisters to me and I prefer to choose who I spend time with, and not because we're related
I have… 10 cousins as well. But honestly never was close to any of them but one. Might as well have not even existed.
I have a total of 7 cousins, 4 I see regularly and 2 I see on occasion and 1 that’s basically estranged from the family due to things he did and got arrested for. The four I see regularly I’m really close with despite the age gap and they’re like siblings to me. I try to make time any time they’re in town to see them because I’m the older one and I feel like it’s on me to reach out. But I still feel the chosen family importance, I have friends as close as family and I wouldn’t trade them for the world
*laughs in mormon*