By Ian Coates

Last updated 11:45, Tuesday, 09 September 2008

I like being a dad. I enjoy seeing those little things that come along every day to remind you just how great and how rewarding it is to be a father.

Jack and Sam are really close, not just in birthdays, but in their relationship too. It’s really nice to see such friendship in siblings. It doesn’t always happen.

That’s not to say that they don’t fight over silly things. They do. But when they do, the hurt cuts so much deeper between them.

I don’t think it’s the actual deeds or actions of either one of them that hurts, more the loss of a few moments friendship between them. The fact that for a few minutes, their bond has been broken. Such is the intensity of the grief they show.

Sam has started secondary school and it is the first time that they have not spent 24 hours a day together in five years.

I think it will do them good in different ways. They complement each other.

Sam sometimes helps Jack out too much at school and Jack is confident whilst Sam is a little more reserved.

I like their closeness. It reminds me of the same attachment my brother and I had when we were young.

There are several years between us but we were and still are very close.

I remember when he was around three or four, he was always asking to sleep in my bed because he was afraid of the dark.

I liked that because he was warm in a cold house with no central heating.

It got a little wearing in my teens but that was because I couldn’t sneak downstairs to watch TV with my granddad.

I hope Sam and Jack end up as close as my brother and I when they are grown up.

You can’t pick your brothers. You get what you’re given.

I was given a best friend for a brother. And from what I have seen of Jack and Sam’s relationship, I think they have too.