Top 10 Worst Things About Being the Oldest Sibling
Being the oldest sibling is horrible. If you are not the oldest, you'll see why. If you are the oldest, you will understand.
This mostly happened when I was a teenager. Now I'm 21, but I still don't understand why I get blamed, even when I'm trying to make things right.
I'm the youngest sibling of an older sister, and I can say that this is completely unfair. Older siblings and younger siblings both need to be treated the same. I understand that parents need to watch out for the new baby or something, but when they get older, it's time for equal treatment.
It sickens me to hear how unfair it is for older siblings. It even bothers me when my older sister gets treated unfairly, and I always defend her.
"Well, Jane, we just figured out cyanide is poisonous! We're very grateful to know the obvious! Even though our oldest child died, we only care about the youngest!"
I bet if my parents were inventors and needed a test assistant, that would be me. It's always me.
I don't see a big deal out of this. I'm the oldest sibling, but I don't care.
I love my parents and all, but I hate how it seems like they put more pressure on me in terms of growing up and going to college than they do on my sister, who is only 10 months younger than me.
My mom is ridiculously overprotective of me. My sister is 20, and they let her go places unsupervised since she was like 16. I'm 26, and I still can't leave the house unsupervised.
This means that you get micromanaged, but your sibling doesn't when he/she gets to your age.
Girl, I'm sorry that happened to you. My sister wants to wear all my adult clothes, and most of them are only for men (I'm male). I thought she was a girly girl. Apparently, she's in the middle, but she's not a tomboy. However, this only lasts during the summers, as most of the time, I'll be at college.
I have my own room, but my little sister barges in every day for 10 minutes to pick out clothes. If I go in her room for bras, underwear, pajamas, or whatever, she screams!
My grandma got me a doll when I was little, and my sister saw it one day, took it, put it in her room, and officially made it hers. If I go in her room and lay my hands on it, she screams, even though it's mine.
If my brother smashes my tablet in front of my mom, I pay for it. If my mom breaks my tablet, I pay for it. If my brother puts his tablet on a drone, flies it to 2,000 feet, and then "accidentally" turns the drone off, my mom pays for the tablet, the drone, and the damages from the inevitable explosion. If my brother throws a laptop at the TV and my mom sees it, I get to pay for it.
My sisters can break all my stuff, and my mom pretends it never happened. If I make the smallest knick in something, I have to pay all the charges. It sucks. I have to pay for all my own stuff too. Thanks, Mom.
You have to share your toys (if you even have any), your phone/tablet/PC (that you bought with your money), your Lego creations, your books, your Halloween candy, and even your batteries!
I own nothing anymore because this is so true.
This is so true! My little brother gets every exact thing on his wish list every single year. Part of this is because his birthday is on Christmas Eve, and my parents say it makes him "special."
I make a wish list with at least 5 or 6 things (it used to be longer when I was younger), and I would get 5 or 6 items at the most depending on how expensive everything was. But my brother would get at least 8 every year. I politely told my parents how I felt (it was on Christmas), and my dad yelled at me in another room, telling me that Christmas is THE WRONG DAY TO BE COMPLAINING! I put that in caps because he was screaming at the top of his lungs. I wish I could be like my little brother.
I remember this from my own childhood and now see and hear it happening in other families as well. I'm the oldest child and have a brother. Whenever you attacked your sibling, self-defense or not, you were committing a crime against humanity according to your parents and other adults. If the younger sibling did it, it was considered cute, and adults thought the older child, you, probably deserved it too.
When my brother and I were little children, our mother asked us why we always fought. My brother said it was because I didn't obey him, and he didn't obey me because he didn't want to, so technically it was his fault. However, our mother just laughed it off. I don't think her reaction would have been the same if the roles had been reversed.
Extended family gives your younger sibling more Christmas presents than you. Even if you're lucky enough to have parents who give you some "extra" packages to bridge the gap, some relatives come over the day after Christmas and give your sibling more gifts.
YES YES YES! My sister and cousins always get stuff from extended relatives, but I almost always get nothing. This is why I am greedy and constantly whine and beg to get things from everyone.
I know I should be thankful, but what use is something that will break before I take it out of the package? It's kind of like getting nothing at all.
Mine do that every time I'm home on weekends, and it's the most annoying thing EVER! It's not just the things they say or do. It's the fact that you can't do anything, no matter how much you want to give them a good ol' fist in the face. Because if you do, they will tell on you to your parents, or tell the other 5 siblings that you hit them, and then the other 5 will gang up on you against your parents. Then, you get grounded for the next five months.
And you can't tell your parents, because they would never believe you anyway. So, what can you do?
I feel bad for all the older siblings that have to go through this! I'm happy I have a decent brother, and I am treated equally to him and don't have to be a good example for him.
Parents want YOU to be a good example for your bratty younger siblings, yet they don't care when the younger sibling does something bad and blame the oldest for everything! If I had to go through all these problems, I would hate my life forever and wait for the day to move out! I feel sorry for all the older siblings who posted their stories about their horrible lives with their obnoxious, spoiled, and bratty younger siblings!
In my case, it's pretty much all the chores, not just the most. I'm 26, and I still have to do chores, but my 19-year-old sister is allowed to just sit there and be lazy.
When I was a lot younger, I had to do the chores. But when my siblings got older, they had to do the chores too.
That's so me now.
I wish I could cry about this, but I have no more tears to shed.
When my relatives visit us:
(To me) Hi.
(To my cousins and sister) Hi! How are you? How's life? Blah blah blah...
No wonder I have no social life among my family. :(
I'm a Swiftie, so when I sing along, I sometimes sing the curse words. Whenever my sister hears it, she's like, "I'm going to tell on you!" I'm like, "What? I didn't even say the F-word - I said 'frick' or something!" And she's like, "That's still a bad word." Seriously, "frick" is literally a substitute for the F-word!
I think this only applies to younger siblings under eight years old.
So true! Mine is horrible for this reason.
I yelled at my little sister to get out of my room, and Mom yelled at me. My sister then proceeded to go on a rant about how awful I am and questioned how I even have friends because I'm so mean. And Mom just sat there comforting her. The heck?!?!
My sister says stupid - mom and dad say nothing.
I say stupid - mom and dad tell me not to say stupid.
This exact thing happened when I was going to an amusement park with my best friend. My brother was asking her stupid questions and hitting her, so I slapped him to get him to stop, and my best friend laughed. It was so funny because of her!
My sister is like this. When my friend comes over, she makes me look stupid and like an idiot.
Happens to me all the time...
Seriously, my sister is almost nine, my brother just turned ten, and my other brother is almost thirteen! They still can't clean up after themselves, yet I get blamed for it and have to clean it up.
Uh, hello? They're your kids. You should be the one looking after them. We older siblings are not going to spend our lives cleaning up their messes.
This may not be as common since some people have cousins or friends, but it's definitely one of the most influential aspects of being the oldest.
I always wanted an older sister... Well, thanks to whoever posted this, you just made me cry.
I always wanted an older sibling.
This mainly applies to siblings under the age of 3.
It's horrible. Why does the youngest get priority? The oldest, or at least me, deserves things too.
And on Christmas, the oldest has to open their presents last.
Some board games actually have a rule: "The youngest player's turn is first."
When she was in elementary school, my sister would brag that she's "smarter" and "more awesome" than me because she was fully toilet trained by age 3 1/2, but I was still in diapers at that age. I'm 26 and she's 19.
They never succeed. I'm way smarter than them. Also, some of this stuff isn't true. Yeah, my mom favors one of them, but everyone else likes me more.
My brother does this.
And when you do get mad, you end up getting in trouble for it.