Are you the oldest, youngest or middle child?

United States
February 23, 2007 4:13pm CST
What are the pros and cons of your position in your family? There's only 2 of us, and I am the younger one, I don't know what the good or bad thing is because when it comes to chores, my mom would say it is more of a responsibilty of the girl so I am the one expected to do such, in some situations I don't think that my brother is expected to be the protector or the one who should give way either, although he was the older one.. I think I was always the one asked to forgive and let go and understand... which at some point of my childhood I felt bad about..Butall's well I guess.
22 people like this
131 responses
• India
24 Feb 07
i am the eldest person among my siblings... there are a lot of responsibilities that one has to carry if he is the elder one... he or she has always to look after his or her siblings as hi or her own children... also he or she has to keep up with the expectations of parents....
• India
24 Feb 07
i am the youngest child in my home
1 person likes this
@MGjhaud (23154)
• Philippines
24 Feb 07
we're 4 siblings in the family and i am the youngest. when i was young i felt that it's not lucky to be the youngest because you get to do all stuff your other siblings doesnt want to do.. my first two older siblings has 9 an 10 years gap with my age and they already were established during my younger years. the third, which is my second brother is 3 years ahead of me so we get along than the two others. sometimes we quarelled regarding whose to do this and that. however now that we're fully grown up, we laugh at those. being the youngest doesn't really matter now. it's about how we act as adults and responsible of things we are in.
• Canada
24 Feb 07
I have two older brohters and one younger sister but growing up there was only my sister and I as our brother's did not live with us so I was the oldest at home . I don't think it really makes a difference in which order you come as my sister was spoiled rotten but I don't feel this was because the baby as much as the fact that we were two different people , where I was strubborn she was more sneaky , she would always pretend to give in where I would stand there and argue my point across .
1 person likes this
• Philippines
24 Feb 07
i am the eldest in the family. i have 3 sisters and two brothers. for me, it's a challenging role to be the eldest since in my case, i have to provide them. actually im the bread-winner in the family so it's also hard for me. at the same time, if youre the eldest, you want to give all the best to your family.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
24 Feb 07
I have a younger sister. As the older one, I tend to have more responsibilities. I ought to look after her, I have to set a good example, etc. Other times, I would be asked to do the chores when my mom wasn't around. Also, they expect you to understand your sister more. If we fight, I would always take the blame. The responsibilities and obligations can be tough most of the time, but it can be rewarding when you see your sibling making up for all those hardships.
1 person likes this
@qouniq (1966)
• Malaysia
27 Feb 07
I am the youngest sister of my sibling...and i find that my elder sister don't carry a responsibility of her others sisters like what she suppose to be...In most cases my second sister and me will act to solve the problem,..rather than our elder sister...
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
2 Mar 07
Well, I am all three! Ha! I am an only child. Pros: lots of attention from parents, their money and time didn't have to stretch as far, didn't have to share my room with a sibling. Cons: parents sometimes too focused on me due to noone else to focus on, since didn't have to share room with sibling...to this day I like a lot of personal space and don't like it invaded, often lonely for other children to play with.
@sechsey (1831)
• Canada
24 Feb 07
i bear alot of responsibilities. thats because i am the eldest and the only girl as well of 3 children. I am supposed to be the boss because i was older but i dont think it happened that way. It ended to me being reprimanded because my brother was mean to me that i should know better than say anything back because im older. I was the one who always have to understand but never been tried to be understood because thats it , i am older. I was the one who had to do everything around the house because i shouldnt let my younger brothers do it since i am the older sister, i need to understand and i need to be a role model. What do the younger ones get then? All these responsibilites go on even until you are done in college or married for that matter. You are expected to help out because you are the eldest because we are the first one to get a job or because we simply have to be rather than them. I am bitter about being older because the younger ones gets to have fun and not worry about their responsibilities to their parents or for their sister even.
• United States
24 Feb 07
It is really odd because in my case, although I am the younger one I feel like I am the one always expected to understang my brother... My mom would always tell me.. just let it go, or just understand him because you know better. I know it is a complement but then I just was so annoyed by the fact that I was always the one to understang him rather than him giving way because he's the older brother... Really weird
@sechsey (1831)
• Canada
24 Feb 07
Hmmm.. maybe your parents think that you are more responsible or mature than him that's why you are asked whats supposed to be expected from him.:)
• Malaysia
24 Feb 07
Guess you're right sechsey. Normally teenage or guys will always show some juvenile act during our growing up periods ")
@LeXDei (209)
• Philippines
24 Feb 07
I am the eldest among four daughters. The role has its advantages and disadvantages. Being the eldest you have a lot of responsibilities and a lot of decision making to do. Of course I should likewise be ready with all the repercussions of everything that I decide on. My sisters would depend on me on almost everything that has to be done in the house. But the role has its advantages too. Since I make all the decisions, my sisters should be executing everything that I have thought of. The position has power LOL!!!
• United States
24 Feb 07
aahahah!! Taking advantage of the position!!!
@JuliaPan (564)
• Canada
24 Feb 07
We are two - my eldest brother and I. He is only 1.7 year old. From our childhood, I remember that all our quarrels and even fights :) ended with our mom's or dad's cries: "Alex, leave her alone!" and "Julia, don't you cry, you're not a child!" So for me our parent's treated my brother more justly than me, and so I was always left in tears. :( Luckily now my brother and I are in very good relations, and though we live far away from each other (even in different continents), we speak over the Skype every week and try to see each other every year.
@JuliaPan (564)
• Canada
24 Feb 07
Well I meant my brother is 1.7 year older than me of course. :)
@demonoid (69)
• United States
23 Feb 07
I am a middle child. I have an older sister and a younger brother. While growing up, we were all expected to do chores. I don't think there is any pros or cons of being in the middle at all. Before my brother was born though, my sister would sometimes get blamed for the things that I did. Just like when my brother was born, I got blamed for some of the things that he did.
• China
24 Feb 07
You are right the older is responsibility for the younger. No the pros and cons of you're older or younger. Right?
• Philippines
24 Feb 07
i am the youngest from the family, of course some says that youngest are the favorite of all but its not. Im not in good terms with our eldest, just like cats and dogs but sometime youngest are mistaken as the prodigal of the family
• Indonesia
24 Feb 07
i am a middle child. i have an older sister, a younger sister and an younger brother. that's make my live so happy everyday, because i can distrubed on her everydayyyy.. LOL
• United States
2 Mar 07
I am the baby of the family. My only siblings is a brother who's 18 months older then I am. I think I was sometimes a bit too spoiled, whereas my brother may not have been. Then again, often times since we've grown up, I act more like the big sister and him the younger brother. I'm a lot more mature and able to handle being on my own. So I'm not sure if it had much of an affect in the long run. Perhaps even an opposite effect. Either way, I did get away with more things. But all in all, I think my parents were pretty fair. He did try and pull rank, though. I have a video of one Christmas morning, when we're unwrapping presents. He unwrapped a Hungry Hippos game, and he starts saying, "You can't play this, it's for bigger kids. See, it says 8 and over and you're not 8 yet. You can't play it, because you're too little." Over and over. Funny part was, that my 8th birthday was barely a month away! Of course, I was allowed to play it. So I think maybe he felt short-changed, but not too bad. We were otherwise treated very much the same in most areas.
@drakan291 (817)
• Ireland
2 Mar 07
im the oldest.
@Niggywm (308)
• Latvia
24 Feb 07
I am the oldest, the youngest and the only child in my family =D And I feel happy by this way ;)
• United States
24 Feb 07
I am the oldest of 2 kids. i like it because i can do somethings she cant, like drive. lol. but i dont like it becuse she is the baby of thefamily (even though she is barley younger then me, 3 years younger) but she actually has done more than i have. she is allowed to go to friends, movies and all that, of course i have to chouffer. i was never alowed, no matter how much i begged. ugh! and she never cleans, parents do it. they never inforce rules, if she drops the F-bomb, they ask whats the matter, i did it once, i was smacked. ha! this is a really dumb thing. it really aint fair.
@dbeast (1495)
• India
24 Feb 07
i am the youngest of the two in the family and i have real fun being the youngest.i am the favorite at home and this really gets my brother angry.but i love my brother too and we are like best of friends and we help each other out a lot.so i have more of advanteges being young .i am given more preferences first regarding anything and at times i take advantage of it too.but on the flipside i am always compared with my brother as to how good and successful he is and so on.on the overall i am happy i am the youngest.:-)thanks.
@WandaG (23)
• United States
24 Feb 07
I am the oldest child. My brother and I are 8 years apart. He's 25 and i'm 32. I also have a younger sister she's 22.
• India
24 Feb 07
we are four sisters and i'm the third one. i've always enjoyed this position as i was never told to do the household chores, rather my elder sisters were asked to do those things. though not the youngest i still was pampered the most. i still could act as an elder sister with my youngest sis. it has been a real fun!
@Chele2k2 (241)
24 Feb 07
When I was growing up, I was the youngest of 4, my half sister was the oldest, followed by my sister, my brother, then me. We all had equal chores, although I did end out doing more then my share, as my oldest sister used to pay me, to do some of her share, I didn't mind though. Being the youngest, I did get away with a lot more, I guess they thought I was sweeter then I actually was ...... lol I think, in my family anyway, my oldest sister had the worse deal, as she had the most responsibility and if we got into an argument with each other the oldest would get told off more because being older they should know better ............. I was glad to be the youngest :o)