The other day, I was sitting here thinking about how sometimes I feel bad for my eight year old. His little brother wants to do everything he does, which doesn’t always work out so well because of the three year age difference. Most of the time, anything that my oldest picks up to do, the little guy isn’t very far behind. Because they are at different levels developmentally, it seems like I am always saying something like this to my oldest: “Let it go…you’re brother just isn’t old enough to do that”. Since I’m the oldest of three (my sister is 4 years younger and my brother is 6.5 years younger), I really can relate. I do have higher expectations of my older son. Like my parents always said to me “you know better” and it’s true. Since I remember so clearly, I completely understand what he must be feeling to hear me say that to him.
So, since my wheels were turning, I made up this list of pros/cons of being the oldest.
Pros:
- I never, ever had to wear hand-me-downs. HA!
- More privileges (higher allowance, later bedtime, etc).
- I always had two people that thought I was too cool for school (aka: they looked up to me).
- As I got older, I got out of doing a lot of things while my sister and brother still had to go.
Cons:
- That higher expectations thing I was talking about earlier.
- I was blamed for pretty much everything because I was “older & supposed to know better”.
- My siblings were able to get away with a lot of things that I wasn’t/My parents were more strict with me.
- I was a free babysitter.
It’s definitely a give and take between siblings, but I can say for certain that I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my brother and sister. And I knew before I ever had my first son, that he needed a sibling (and I was hoping & praying for another boy) and someday I just know that they will be best friends.
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This post, The Pros and Cons of Being the Oldest, originally appeared on Masshole Mommy on August 4, 2013. Tweet This
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