Little Terrors-I Mean Blessings

I don't know about you, but I live in a pretty big family. I love all my siblings, but sometimes they can be real pains. It's hard to be nice to them sometimes, or connect with them. I don't know why, but everyone has a different idea of what siblings are or how to deal with them. Everyone has a different relationship with them. 

I am the oldest sibling in my family. This usually comes with certain personality traits or experiences that only other oldest children can understand. For instance, wanting to be better than your siblings. I don't know where this comes from, but every oldest sibling I've talked to feels the same way: because we're older we should be better. Now, it's definitely not always the case. My siblings are better than me at a lot of things, and I've accepted it. Accepting it does not mean I like it. I prefer to know more stuff, do more stuff, have more stuff, and be better at stuff than they are. This is probably because oldest siblings are more likely to be motivated to do stuff, regardless of how intro- or extroverted they are.

We are also trusted by our parents to be in charge more often, and have a lot of responsibility thrust upon us by our parents and ourselves. Oldest children seem to have more chores than younger ones (usually because they've done them longer or are better at it) and we feel like we have to try to be a perfect role model because we know that our younger siblings look up to us. 

Middle children don't have these traits quite so much. I've noticed in middle children (some, not all, because stereotypes don't apply to everyone - obviously) less of a sense of responsibility because they can rely on their older siblings. Middle children also seem to be less driven sometimes, again because their older siblings have been there to fill in the gaps. They also are a bit more carefree then older siblings, which is a good thing.

Youngest kids have always seemed to be the goofy ones to me. I don't know if it's true for every family, but so far I've noticed that the 'baby' of the family will be funnier and more lighthearted than their older siblings.

I'd like to state here that this is just some observations I've made and definitely don't apply to every oldest, middle, or youngest child because everyone is their own individual self. I also don't mean to imply that any of these are better than the others.

All this being said, I think we as siblings should try to understand where the other is coming from in terms of where we're at in the 'pecking order' of siblings. While I may make a certain decision driven by my top of the pecking order place, my brother might want something completely different because he sees it from another perspective. Also, could siblings stop annoying each other? It's a lot to ask, but even though it's funny when you know just what to do to make each other mad it's also hurtful. And funny... ok, annoy your siblings just don't be mean.

-Owl ^OvO^