7 Best Things about Being the Oldest ...

One of the best things about being the oldest child is that you will rarely have someone ask you why you can’t be more like your younger sibling. For better or worse (but of course it’s always better!), you have your own style which your siblings may someday emulate, not the other way around.

Decide on your own path. You don’t have to run track just because an older sibling did, because YOU are the older sibling! You don’t have to go to the local college because your big sister did, because YOU are the big sister! Everyone should be able to forge their own path, but for the eldest, it seems that much easier.

Your parents are swimming in uncharted territory for them. Every day is a new experience. Together, you form a family for all of you, for the first time. Use this not as a power play, but as a way to bond. As a young child you may not have realized it, but as you get older, you start to understand this is a special connection.

You, as the eldest, are able to live the example of your parents’ teachings. Setting that bar is you living up to your goals and standards, without feeling the pressure to live up to the siblings before you. It’s a unique position to be in, and one of responsibility as well as freedom.

No matter how old you and your brothers and sisters get you will always be the oldest. Regardless of the wonderful things they accomplish in their lives, you can always say you are their big sister. In your early life, it may be a feeling of power to say you are the Big Sib, but as life goes on, it turns into a feeling of pride and gratitude.

You accomplishments, dreams, hopes, and actions are the beginning of the norm for the children in your family. The other sibs will follow in your footsteps or not, but in the end, you were the one who set the first steps on the children’s path of the family.

You are probably the first driver of the kids in your family, the first one to date, the first one to graduate high school, the first one to go to prom, and on and on. There’s something special to be said about this, even though your parents and fate had more to do with it than your actions! Even so, isn’t it great to say that you were the first one in your family who accomplished a goal?

Families are about individuals, and everyone expressing themselves as such. There are some uncanny trends when it comes to birth order, yet in the end, it’s up to the individuals to decide what the makeup of their life will be. How do you think your birth order has affected you in your life?