People tell me all the time how being the youngest sibling is the best. Being the youngest in the family does indeed have its perks. The youngest is often given a lot of attention since they are the "baby" of the family. I speak from experience. I am the youngest in my family, with one older sister.
There are days when I absolutely love being the little sister, but there are other days when it is the complete opposite. For example, I sometimes feel like I need to catch up with my older sister all the time. She is starting to work towards her career while I am still an Undergraduate and while that is something that I can't control, seeing her start to make something of her life makes me feel like I am not working hard enough or like I am not going anywhere.
Even so, it is nice to be coddled over all the time. Since I am the "baby", I tend to be cut some slack and have my needs taken care of faster. But one of the biggest perks, in my personal experience, is being able to have someone be a test runner. What I mean by this is that since I have an older sister, she is the one to experience things first, such as school or hobbies. From her experiences, it is easy for me to determine whether or not I will like something or whether or not I should do something. I definitely consider myself a follower because of this. For example, when my sister learned how to play the flute, I thought that was pretty cool, so I learned how to play the flute. I would have never considered the option if my sister hadn't. When my sister joined marching band, I decided to join the marching band. This trend went on for a while until I grew old enough to finally feel confident in making my own personal decisions.
Even so, being the youngest still means that you are behind. But what is worse than that, in my opinion, are the expectations. Once your older siblings go through their experiences whether it be in school or the work field, you are held up to certain standards. One of the main reasons why school was a living hell for me was when I would have a teacher that my sister previously had. My sister was definitely every teacher's favorite because she was genuinely an amazing and brilliant student. She never did anything wrong and was very smart and attentive in class. So whenever I was in a class with one of her previous teachers, they would recognize our last name and make the connection. Whenever they would find out that I was her sister, you could almost see expectations written all over their face while they gushed over how great my sister was and how excited they are to have me in their class. Depending on the subject, there was a 50-50 chance that I would live up to those expectations. Whenever I didn't meet them, it felt like I was a failure because of how hard the teachers would be on me. When I walk into a class being known as "that girl's little sister", they expect me to be a mini replica of my sister. This continued all throughout high school and it really sucked. While my sister is very book smart, I am not. I am much more artistically inclined, so I usually tended to be a disappointment when it came to academics.
I remember when it came to look at colleges, and I was encouraged to go to the same college as my sister and I immediately rejected that idea. There is no way I'm being put in that situation again!
And so I write this to say that no sibling is the better sibling. Oldest, middle or youngest, we all have perks and struggles. Don't tell me I have it easy because I am the youngest, because while it can be enjoyable, it can be quite the struggle bus.
