No matter how big or how small a family is, there will always be that one child who preceded the rest. In my family, I was that kid. As older siblings, we are the test-drive for our parents and the guardians of our baby brothers and sisters. However, has anyone considered how our position in the family influences us as individuals? Well, it appears to be being the oldest has a lot more benefits than originally thought. Here are just a few reasons why oldest siblings are the strongest people alive.

1. We know what it feels like to have to share the love we once had all for ourselves.

For a couple of years, or even months, the world revolved around us. Every present, every hug and every kiss. Then, one unexpected day, mommy brought a little baby wrapped in a blanket... and the sharing began.

2. We know how to stand up for what we need or want.

We have heard this over a thousand times: "You're the oldest, and he's just a kid." We have given up everything in our lives to stop our little siblings from crying, but after repeated conflicts, there came a time when we had to put a stop to this for our own sake! We stood up for ourselves!

3. We accept no type of unfairness whatsoever.

Even when we stood up for ourselves, sometimes things didn't turn out the way we wanted them to. The first couple of times, we accepted it. However, when the Ultimate Fairness Battle occurred, we put a stop to the nonsense and claimed our rights.

4. We have witnessed it all.

Ranging from breakups to middle school drama, we experienced everything before our younger bros and sisses, therefore, we have always been the go-to person when our baby siblings face any type of challenge. We also re-experienced it all when we helped them figure life out.

5. We can be very good listeners.

Yes, we are tough as rocks, but even with all the hardships we have faced, we were there for our siblings every day, every time. Whether it was listening to them ramble about a fight with our parents or talking them through a bad grade, we learned to be good listeners and to relate to moments of weakness.

6. Nevertheless, we know the signs of being manipulated.

We know we are being manipulated when a. people subtly ask for our belongings, b. they bring out the "I'll tell the boss (aka mom)" speech, or c. they fail to give us credit for something we did. We are all eyes!

7. So in order to survive, we also became masters of manipulating back.

Two can play the game, honey. While we have been taken advantage of for being the eldest ones, we learned to convince the babies in order to have our own way as well.

8. Not to brag, but we are slightly smarter and skillful problem solvers.

Living longer + being overprotected by parents = strong, smart individuals. We are old and wise, we learned from our mistakes before our siblings did and we have had to find ways to get away with a lot of things.

9. And we are very, very good at planning surprises!

We became masters at sneaking around our nosy siblings and hiding certain things from them to not get busted. This has paid off because now, surprises and secrets are our number one specialty!

10. We are used to a certain level of authority.

Parents leave the house to run an errand, and we are automatically in charge. These repeated stances of superiority have somehow made us used to having the upper hand in any situation.

11. But even though we have some tricks under our sleeves... we have learned to fight for the people we love above all.

We might be slightly on defense all the time, but growing up with younger siblings has taught us our main role in life, aside from being ourselves, is caring for the people we love.

Our entire lives were spent protecting our little household shadows, and even now that we are all grown up, we will still protect them with everything we have. This caring skill not only applies to the, but for any other person that becomes a meaningful part of our existence.

There are many perks and bumps to being the eldest child in a bunch, but there is one thing I know for sure: because of these countless experiences, there is no doubt we grew to be the strongest people alive.