10 Signs You're the Oldest SIbling

You’re always supposed to set a good example 


As the oldest sibling I always felt a sense of responsibility to be a good example for my siblings. I was driven to behave well because I didn’t want to disappoint my parents, but more importantly because I wanted to be a good older sister. Sometimes it was a lot of pressure, but in my mind it was just the reality of being the oldest sibling.

You had to wait until you were way older than your siblings did to do pretty much anything


This one never seemed fair. They could watch movies that you never would have been allowed to watch, they got a phone earlier than you, and they could stay up later than you did. A lot of things were unfair, but hey, they were also never an only child and got all of my parent’s attention to themselves.

You’re the guinea pig child 


You’re parents have never done this before when you are born. So they’re always trying new things and you just have to go with it. I was the first to drive, the first to date, the first to move out. All of these things are major life events and because I was the first, my parents and I had to navigate how to get through them. Fortunately for my sister, it should be a lot easier for them because it’s more normal now

You have to hide everything you own 


Especially having sisters! The worst was when I saved up my money to buy a shirt I really wanted only to find out that my sister stole it from my closet and wore it before I did. And because you’re the oldest and should lead by example, you’re expected to share all your toys and play with your siblings.

Your siblings copy everything you do

As much as it sucked that my siblings followed me around everywhere, it is also cool that you have siblings that look up to you and want to do the same thing. Watching home videos is funny because we’re doing everything together and it was easy to boss around younger siblings that wanted to be apart of whatever I was doing.

You made them do everything for you as long as possible

I am 6 years older than Shanay and Taya is 4 years older, so we really used this to our advantage when Shanay was little and annoying us! We ALWAYS got her to go get everything for us and just made it into a game for her. The day she caught on to what we were doing really sucked! 

You have to take your siblings with you wherever you go 


The classic line was, “you can go, as long as you take your sister”. At least I always had a side kick, but at some point it got frustrating when you just wanted to hang out with your friends and you always had to bring your little sister along on your play dates.

The funniest memory was when I actually had to go on a play date with Taya because she didn’t want to go to her friend’s house alone. So I remember sitting there in her friend’s room doing nothing and just watching them play for a few hours. 

You become the one they go to when they’re fighting with your parents

When you hear your parents fighting with one of your sisters, you know there will be a debrief coming afterwards. Sometimes when they were sent to their room I would try and sneak into their room so I could talk to them and see what happened. It was especially bad timing when I was about to ask for something from them, so sometimes the conversation consisted of asking how mad they were on a scale of 1-10 to know if I needed to wait to ask my question.

You were in charge when mom and dad weren’t home


As I got older and there was no need for a babysitter I got to play “mom” and trust me, I had been training for it for years! Haha I was definitely a bossy older sister, but it was definitely cool to be the one in charge and trust me, I threatened to call mom and dad on many occasions. But it was also fun to get away with things and break the rules when they were gone!

You have built-in best friends


When I say I won’t tell anyone, my sister doesn’t count!

Having younger sisters is the best thing in the world and I love the bond we have. Having best friends and someone to do something with at all times is the greatest. You never have to go somewhere by yourself if you don’t want to because your sister will always be there by your side.