Recently (OK, not recently, more like two years ago) my older brother had a kid. She was my parent’s first grandchild and made me an aunt, and my other brother an uncle. Somehow, this tiny baby girl changed the entire dynamic of our family forever. Suddenly, there was this tiny little human who ultimately captured the heart of every single person around her. This is what happens when your older sibling has a child.
No one pays any attention to anything but the kid anymore
And with good reason. Kids are adorable and they do the silliest things. When they start walking, they’re basically like perpetually small drunk people stumbling around, dropping their sippy cups filled with juice. But the thing is if, like me, you’re the youngest in the family, and you’re still in high school, and your parents are strict, a lot of that pressure that was previously on you evaporates. Suddenly, your parents are grandparents and there’s a small child that they are not in charge of raising and who they are only in charge of loving and spoiling (and in my mom's case, giving chocolate too even though she’s not supposed to). Everyone else disappears when the baby is in the room.
It could change the way you see your sibling, or reaffirm what you already knew about them
I know a lot of people whose older siblings had kids and they were surprised because they didn’t particularly seem like parent material. Some people will wonder if their sibling will make a good parent or not because maybe they didn’t have the greatest track record when it comes to being responsible, and now they’re responsible for a human life. That wasn’t at all the case when my brother had a kid. When he announced that there was a baby on the way and he told my dad, he was kind of scared. I scoffed because there was no way my brother could ever be a bad father. It is a strange thing when suddenly your sibling isn’t just your sister or your brother anymore; they’re a parent now, and they will always be a parent from that point on.
You find yourself babysitting more (or perhaps not at all, ever)
I volunteered to babysit, I loved babysitting my niece and spending time with her, I would cancel plans with friends or rearrange plans with friends if I was asked to babysit. Funnily enough, my other brother did not babysit her at all, didn’t even change her diaper, and he was completely fine with that, and that’s okay. For the most part, however, most of the people I’ve met who have nieces or nephews say that they would volunteer to babysit and wanted to babysit more.
You will show everyone photos of them
I’m sure I’ve annoyed so many of my friends with the sheer amount of pictures of my niece I show them. Whenever I get sent a new photo of her, I will show everyone. And honestly, I feel zero shame about it because my niece is the cutest little person ever. But every aunt/uncle probably feels that way. I have over 300 photos of just my niece on my phone, and every single time I go home during the school year to just take more photos.
You will be amazed at how much you love your sibling's kid
My mother once told me that you don’t love anything as much as you love your kids. But I don’t have kids, and I don’t even know if I want kids, but I do have a niece. It continuously amazes me how much I love her. She’s not even my kid; I’m not with her all the time, and I don’t have to raise her to be a functioning member of society or make sure she turns out to be a decent person. But I cried like a baby – no pun intended – when I had to leave her to go to college, and I’m on the verge of tears every time I have to leave her at the end of breaks, so I think my mom probably has a point, but only time will tell.
