I love my siblings. I love being the youngest. It has its ups and downs and there are a couple of things that really define what being the youngest child means to me. Take a minute to see what I mean. Here are the 11 things that you experience when you are the youngest child:
1. People never get your name right.
There’s no avoiding it. Your teacher had your older sibling? Well, you better get ready for a year of them calling you by the wrong name when you raise your hand. You play for the same coach as your older siblings? Forget about your first name, the last name is universal so they can’t go wrong. Family friends haven’t seen you in a while? Well, you’re basically the younger version of your older sibling so they’ll just think you’re the older one because people don’t age right?
2. Comparisons are common.
Voice, hair, eyes, smile, nose, ears, teeth, body type, personality, humor, pinky toe on your left foot. You name it and people will compare it to your older siblings. And if the older sibling hears it you can bet their response will be “I was born first”, “She copied me”, “She literally wants to be me”. I call it genetics, they call it annoying.
3. You have built-in role models.
You follow in their footsteps. You learn from their mistakes. You aspire to achieve what they achieve. In my case, I’m extremely lucky because I have three amazing examples to follow. They inspired me to play sports, to do well in school, to be my own person and they showed me how to do all of these things through their own experiences.
4. Mom and dad mellow out quite a bit.
It’s like that diaper commercial where they say “By the second kid every mom is a pro”. She interviews a thousand high-class babysitters for the first kid and for the second one she leaves them with a teenager. It’s a fact, parents mellow out as they have more experience. My parents set expectations but my siblings have made it clear that I got a few perks that they never had.
5. Your cuteness factor is bound to last longer.
Each of my older siblings had their “cute” years cut down by the next kid. The baby of the family gets to stay the baby a little bit longer. Does this mean we’re more spoiled? Maybe. But, my mom is the first to admit that we’re all pretty spoiled. Thanks, Mom.
6. Your baby book is by far the smallest one.
With the first child, parents want to capture every moment. They only have the one kid to focus on. But, by the time I came around, there were four of us to keep my parents on their toes. It’s simply impossible to whip out the camera and capture that moment when I had pasta sauce all over my face because at the other end of the table my brother is giving my sister a chronic flinching problem because he keeps poking her in the side. You can’t make this stuff up.
7. Your siblings are shocked when you can finally “keep up.”
I think this is my favorite one. For years, you’re trying to catch up to your siblings. To be able to use the big words that they use to make fun of you so that maybe you can fire some comments back at them. You dream of the day you won’t lose every game on family game night. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll stop building you an N64 controller out of legos so you can actually join in. To every youngest child out there, I promise you there comes a day when your siblings will look at you shocked because you can use a word like “ostracized” in a coherent sentence or you will finally understand that being called “imp” isn’t exactly a compliment.
8. You have to watch everyone leave.
And now, my least favorite. Being the youngest means being the last one to leave home for college. Nothing is worse than having the house become more and more empty after growing up in a house with constant commotion. Suddenly your go-to dinner date is miles away living a new, exciting life.
9. You mature faster because being called annoying isn’t fun.
Annoying. I’ve been called that more times than I can count during my lifetime. I hated that word. It made me leave the dinner table crying on multiple occasions. All I ever wanted to do was gain my siblings respect (I didn’t realize that I always had it deep down) and be able to keep up with them. As a result, I matured pretty quick to avoid being seen as childish and naive.
10. You’re exposed to the adult world much sooner.
I saw my brother go through the college process when I was in 5th grade. I knew about college essays, the importance of scholarships and financial aid, and the concept of an early decision versus early action before I even entered high school. I’m not saying I know exactly what’s coming my way. In fact, I’m terrified of the future but being the youngest means getting to see your siblings go through it first.
11. “There’s another one?!” is a common exclamation, especially by teachers.
Being the youngest means that your teachers have probably seen your last name on their attendance sheet before. Being the youngest of four means that they probably didn’t expect that you existed. It also meant for me that they were praying you wouldn’t argue their every move like your brother was famous for doing.
