I am the oldest of three children. My sister is 15 and my brother is 14. I know all too well the pros and cons of being the oldest child. So here's a list of 10 things that happen when you're the oldest child as told by the TV phenomena, The Office.
1. You're your parent's guinea pig.
You're their first baby. They don't know what time to set a curfew or when to buy you a cell phone, so they just kind of go with what they think is right. Some of it works, some of it doesn't. You mess up and they mess up, your siblings get to learn from your mistakes and you teach them with your "wisdom".
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2. Your siblings have different rules than you did when you were growing up.
Most likely your parents are a little more lenient with your siblings than they were with you. With you they were learning, now they know how to handle things when they go wrong, so fewer rules. For example, when you got your first phone versus when your siblings got their first phone. I mean it's not fair, but it's not the end of the world.
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3. You experience everything first.
You get to do all the exciting things first, like school, traveling, and sleepovers. Also, you get to go through teachers first. You have no reputation, you set the standards for your siblings. Whether they be high or low, you don't have to live up to them!
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4. Which means you get to drive first.
One of the major marking points in our lives is getting our drivers permit at 16, and you get to rub that in your sibling's faces.
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5. You get conned into driving your sibling's places.
The wonder of driving falls flat when you start driving your siblings to practices and picking them up from a friend's house.
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6. You always get the shotgun.
Shotgun=radio controller.
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7. You win arguments with "I was born first".
"The last piece of pizza is mine because I've been here for 4 years longer than you and I need it more."-you
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8. You feel an overwhelming sense to protect them.
If mama bear had a cool sidekick called older sister/brother bear that would be you. You can mess with them, but once anyone else tries you will go full-on grizzly.
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9. You're always being copied.
Yep, you're their role model. Which means if you like a certain style of music or clothing, so do they. It's more flattering than it is annoying. Who doesn't love a little "mini me" anyway?
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10. You can't imagine life without them.
They annoy the hell out of you 80% of the time, but the other 20% they're your best friends and you can't live without being 100%. They're your flesh and blood. Life wouldn't be anywhere near the same or exciting without them. You wouldn't be who you are without them, and they wouldn't be who they are without you.
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