Growing up as the oldest sibling is a task all on its own. Of course it is never anyone's choice to be the oldest, it just happens. No matter how many siblings you have, being the oldest one is always going to have its pros and cons.
As a sibling in general, you adopt roles. Your number in line doesn't determine your personality, but your role most likely does. Personally, I have grown up as the oldest of three kids and I love it. I believe there are plenty of pros to being the oldest. For example, you get to do things first. You get to have sleepovers first, learn how to drive first, go to college first ... the list goes on and on. It's so great when you're arguing with your siblings over who gets to do something first and you hear, "She/He gets to go first because they're the oldest."
Being the oldest also means that the younger ones listen to you. (Okay, not all the time but it works for a few years. Then they get smart.) Maybe they listen to you because you're the oldest but it might also be because you bribe them. I also love that I get to be someone for my younger siblings to look up to. As the oldest, you model behavior that the younger ones are going to follow. Some may not like this but for many, it is a wonderful privilege.
There are also a lot of not-so-great parts about being the oldest sibling. The oldest sibling is the "practice child" and the parents are typically very strict with the oldest one, because even if they aren't the youngest, they are still "their baby." Imagine how annoying it would be to hear that your 15-year-old sister has a curfew of 12:00 a.m. but when you were 15 your curfew was 10:00 p.m. Being the big sibling also means that you become the permanent babysitter ... for free. You don't get paid because, "It's your job as the oldest to watch your younger siblings."
I've heard of a lot of older siblings who get the, "Aw your kids are so cute! They look just like you!" comment when they are just watching over their younger siblings. Thankfully, my younger siblings aren't too much younger than me. I have no idea how I would react to this. (However, I have had someone say this to me when I was a nanny. Like do these people really think that I had four little girls at the age of 10? I sure hope not.)
If you're the oldest, you'll probably be told that you're too bossy like 3,694,474,394 times during your life. I'd like to believe that it's only because the oldest likes to be protective — I know I am. My little siblings mean everything to me and I really do feel the need to be watching over them all the time. This is a difficult aspect of being older. As you grow older, so do your younger siblings and sometimes this is hard to accept. On the other hand, it's fun when you can talk to them about stuff and do things that you couldn't have talked to them about or do with them when they were younger.
Shout out to my younger siblings for being the coolest and for letting me be the bossy, protective, fun and loving older sister that I am.
