I’m the youngest child, which usually means I should be the favorite by default, but I seem to be the exception to this rule. I mean, don’t get me wrong, my parents love and support me through everything, but my sister seems to take the gold in the amount of attention she receives from them. Now, this might seem incredibly depressing, but it has actually been a blessing in my life for more reasons than one.

My sister is four years older than me, so she was pampered as the first child for a little while until I came around. Of course, as a baby and toddler, I was fawned over because, let’s be honest, any baby is adorable, even if it is unreasonably chubby. But elementary and middle school was a little different.

My sister was the “problem child,” not in the sense that she was an awful daughter, but in the sense that she required a lot of attention due to her achievements. She is incredibly smart and a role model in more eyes than my own. She not only inspires me every day, but also my parents.

As many teenagers do, my sister got into a bit of trouble and my parents paid a lot of much-needed attention to her for this. On the other hand, I was a wild child who wanted all the attention I could get, but I wasn’t always the priority. Then again, this is for good reason because as a fourth grader I wasn’t getting into too much trouble, or so I’m told. My sister soon grew out of her troublesome phase and went off to an incredible university and is still growing into an amazing woman more and more each day.

Since my parents' eyes were always watching my sister, there wasn’t much time to give me an absurd amount of attention because come on, I could do absolutely no wrong. Even when I caused problems or didn’t get the best grade on an exam, my parents weren’t too concerned because my sister was a bit more advanced than me.

This became especially helpful when I began high school because, in terms of grades, there wasn’t too much pressure on me to get an A+ on every assignment, so it was easier for me to do things at my own pace and how I wanted.

In terms of social expectations, my parents weren’t too concerned because they already dealt with my sister, and honestly, it couldn’t get much harder than that. They had the experience for how to deal with any mistake I could possibly make, but in reality, I never made a single one (maybe).

Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to grow up with parents who didn’t watch me like a hawk and showed me nothing but love and affection. I never felt pressured to be the child they had always wanted because they had my sister to push. I was given the space to grow into who I wanted to be, not who they wanted me to be. Although I’m not the favorite child, I like being the second favorite because it has made me, well, me.