In my family, I am the oldest by three and a half years. I am grateful for my younger brother and I wouldn’t trade him in for anything, unless of course, a great deal of money was offered... just kidding! On a more serious note, we get along great and even though he may think it’s easier being the oldest, it’s not, and here are some reasons why.

1. As soon as they were born, all of the attention was focused on them.

2. You had to share the “wall of fame” or, in other words, the refrigerator with all of your accomplishments and school paintings.

3. Whenever they started crying or screaming it was always your fault.

4. You started to notice less videos and pictures of you and more of them.

5. You heard the saying, “because they’re the youngest, that’s why,” a little too much.

6. You probably didn’t get your first cell phone until you were about 16 years old but they got theirs around 13 years old.

7. Your bedtime on school nights was 9:00 PM, but as you got older and could stay up longer, theirs got changed along with yours.

8. If you didn’t text your parents back the minute your phone dinged, you’d be dead meat, but your sibling could go three days without answering back.

9. If you both had a school event on the same night, your parents most likely chose your younger sibling's.

10. Your curfew was 10:00 PM when you were younger but theirs was 11:30 PM.

11. You had to come home after prom. No after parties for you.

12. Your mom and dad didn’t wait up for them when they went on dates.

13. Their punishments and “groundings” were never as long or as harsh as yours.

14. If they ever wanted anything or got in trouble, they could always say that we had it first or did it first.

15. They always got to pick the place to go out to eat or the movie you went to see.

16. Your mom and dad always knew what to do with them and how to do it because you were the trial run for everything.

17. They didn't have to do all the things in school like we did, including extra credit hours, honors classes and community service hours.

18. Last, but definitely not least, they always got away with everything, and I mean everything.

With all of that being said, our younger sibling, or siblings, will never know what it’s like to live as an only child with mom and dad for those years in between us being born and them. Something I do know is that I’m glad my parents decided to have another baby, because without you, life would be a pretty boring one. I guess I won’t trade you in after all, even if that does mean I have to be the older sibling.