It’s becoming a rather common occurrence nowadays to see families with children many years apart. I personally have a sister that was born the day after my 17th birthday. This type of family dynamic comes with some pretty interesting changes.
1. You are the built-in babysitter.
You are the go-to person when a sitter is needed, and if you’re lucky there may be some pay involved. Always being needed and expected to perform your duties can really put a damper on your teenage plans, but you learn to make it work. In high school, I would bring my sister to football and basketball games that I didn’t want to miss while my parents worked. Not exactly conventional but I did what I had to do while also getting to do what I wanted.
2. The sibling becomes a part of your group and is basically your friends’ younger sibling too.
With all of the inevitable babysitting, your friends are pretty much forced to hang out with your sibling, if they want to hang out with you. This wasn’t a negative aspect with my group of friends, as they loved hanging out with her, sometimes even preferring her to me. Occasionally, after school we would load everyone up in my family’s mini-van and go out to eat, shopping or to the park. She was truly a part of the crowd. They watched her grow and loved her as if she were their own sister.
3. Everyone thinks you’re a teen parent.
In the age of "16 and Pregnant," and "Teen Mom," everyone assumes a teenager plus a young child means a parent-child relationship. It’s like older siblings don’t even exist anymore. The amount of times I have been mistaken for my sister’s mother is absurd. I once got handed a flower on Mother’s Day as I was pushing her in her stroller. I’ve also been asked if she was my only child, been told she looks just like me (which she does not) and my mom has been called “grandma” more times than she would like to admit.
4. Even your sibling thinks you’re their parent.
Having so many people very involved in a baby's life can confuse them. My sister called both me and our mother "Mom" from the time she could speak until she was a little over 2 years old.
5. You can’t believe how old you will be when they are your age.
“Thirty-what!?”
6. But you also can't wait for them to brag about you in school.
One day, your sibling will share your unique story and awe their friends with tales of your wedding and being an aunt/uncle to your children. They will share how awesome your job is and how you are their biggest role model.
7. Leaving them for college is extra difficult.
Siblings closer in age understand that you have to leave for school. They know you haven’t left them forever and it’s easy to be in consistent contact with them. With these extremely young siblings, it’s a much harder process. They don't understand why you're not around all the time anymore. You've watched them every step of the way, learning to speak, crawl and walk. You know they're going to change and grow so much while you're gone and you hate to miss it.
Although this relationship brought about a lot of responsibility, I don't wish for anything different. Having a sibling so much younger than me taught me to better take care of others and matured me even more as an adult.
