Siblings can make all the difference in the entire world, regardless of if you're the younger or older sibling.
Let's be real though, being the older sibling really is the struggle. (Apart from being oodles of fun.)
I became an older sibling at the age of eight, and although I was super excited about having a younger brother, I guess my eight-year-old mind couldn't exactly understand what exactly was about to happen to my life and how it was about to change, for both better and worse.
The first thing I learned about being the oldest sibling was that I was the source of dependency for everything, meaning that I basically became a young parent.
That was the first lesson I ever learned about being the oldest sibling. You are now the family's newest, unpaid, babysitter.
At first, it didn't seem like much, but after growing up, babysitting seemed to be more like an annoying chore rather than an actual favor for your family.
However, it's kind of hard to not learn a few tricks while babysitting.
I was about twelve when I learned that having a younger sibling was basically like having a little minion to bid to your will.
It became a small game of cat and mouse, just without the awful deception.
That's when I learned my second lesson about being the oldest sibling: if you continue to use your younger sibling to do your bidding, eventually they'll get tired of it and grow an attitude towards you. Then you'll lose your little minion forever.
At this point, regardless of the arguments my brother and I had in the past, we still loved each other very much. I had grown up with him just like he had with me; he was one of my best friends, and I wanted nothing but the best for him.
That's how the third and final lesson came to be. Younger siblings grow up, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Suddenly they have friends of their own, and your weekly game nights come to an end; hanging out with your siblings seems more like an unnecessary thing rather than something fun like before.
They start to slowly detach themselves from you, and you can't help but hear your heart break a little bit.
Being the oldest sibling isn't just fun and giggles. Sure, a big part of it is, but you learn valuable lessons along the way that you never would've thought you would learn.
The struggles of being the oldest sibling are having to watch someone you love grow up and have you wonder where the time went.
