As the oldest of seven, I know the ups and downs of watching your siblings grow up after you. It's not just the upper body strength from carrying your youngest sibling around all the time or being inclined towards theater because your home life made you a performer- I've complied seven things I noticed after spending 20 years in a household of nine.
1. You can tune out any and all background noise.
Fire sirens? Conversations in restaurants? After listening to your siblings compete for turns to talk half the time and run rampant the other time, that stuff is nothing. Quiet actually scares you. It means there’s no one around.
2. You’re used to getting called by the wrong name.
My dad and his brother were practically only a letter off in their names: Don and John. My sister Carly and I got the same privilege of having similar-sounding names. My grandpa calls us Carl-sey so he can’t ever be wrong. But I’m used to being called by my brother’s names at this point. Hell, I’ll answer to anything.
3. Friends complain you make too much food.
Since you’re used to ten hands reaching for the same food at once, you never take dinner for granted. All your recipes have a three dozen servings and your roommate is sick of eating your leftovers.
4. People assume you’re a first class babysitter.
“Oh, you’re from that Brady Bunch family down the street? Watch my kids, put them to sleep and play all their favorite games. I’ll think about calling you back if they’re sound asleep when the hubby and I come home.”
5. AND that you’re home-schooled.
“Don’t you have like eighty people in your family? All those kids are weird and home-schooled. Your mom must love that.”
6. You tease everybody. No exceptions.
Some of your friends stick around solely for the slapstick. You had to hold your own at home long enough to develop some sense of humor, or at least a joke format.
7. You’re not shy.
Maybe you didn’t blossom into a social butterfly, but you find you do better around people. You thrive in their company. And mid-day silence is still spooky.
