Being The Younger Sibling
By: Sree Jaya
Tags: Family, Fun, Siblings, Reels, Life

Instagram Reels have been the trend since the past few months and I have been constantly seeing a lot where they show the attitude of the eldest, middle and youngest siblings.

Sure, we are a little spoiled. But, you know what they say “Power comes with a price”. So I thought why not explain what it actually is like to be the younger sibling or worse, the youngest child in the family!

Let’s start with childhood.

The major thing about our childhood is that they will have trust issues for life and you are always being bullied by your elder siblings, because bullying is the birth right of the elder sibling. You grew up believing that you were either adopted or you came from a bug’s egg or that you were found from the middle of a street, because you tend to believe whatever lies your elder ones fed you with. Being convinced by your elder sibling even if he/she says things like John Cena is not as cool as Dwayne the Rock or sun rises from the west or he/she is a member of Illuminati. You believe it and tell all your friends about it, only to end up looking like a fool.

Another major aspect of being the youngest is that you are the errand child. Be it your elder siblings, parents, grandparents, or a random neighbour aunty, they will order you around for stuff that God has actually given them arms and legs for. It’s like you officially signed up a contract, when God decided that you were going to be born, the task of getting water and salt for everyone at the dinner table, switching on/off the lights, getting the door, basically whatever they ask you to do.

If you are the youngest sibling, it’s a guaranteed fact that you will have more than two parents (stop thinking dirty stuff, I meant that the older siblings act like your parents). You will never be the one to attend your own phone calls until you’re at the least 18, you will never know what personal space actually means, you will constantly be monitored what you’re doing in your room(that is if you’ll ever have one), what books you read, what’s on your search history(no kidding!!), or you can’t even get a phone for yourself unless you’re not living in your house anymore.

Don’t even get me started on getting the second hand stuff of your elder sibling (you don’t even have to be the same sex as your elder ones for this). Be it the toys, the clothes, the textbooks, the bicycles, or even the first mobile phones you’ll have, you’ll always be hand me downs -_-

The next thing is about being a younger sibling is that you are never right. Why? Because you’re just a baby, and you know nothing about the real world, and most of all because you’re the youngest -_-

You’ll never have an identity if you’re the youngest kid, especially if you and your siblings went to the same school. You’ll always be referred to as the brother/sister of so-and-so. And you’re always threatened by your older siblings to lie to your parents to cover up whatever nuisance they’ve caused.

And worst of all you’ll be blamed for anything that got broken in your house (like you don’t even have to touch it, and they’ll say it got broke because you passed by it at the time it fell off), you don’t even have to have ever seen it, like if something turned to ash in the galaxy they’ll blame you because it happened due to your existence -_-

The most annoying thing of all is that you will always be “the kid” in the house. The thing is you are the youngest of everyone in the family, so even if you’re 15, 20, 30, you will always be the youngest in the family. So you get a bonus of over protective elder siblings in addition to over protective parents. You are denied the opportunity from going out with your friends or going on a school trip because you are not “old enough” to handle yourself (ever), you’ll never know what it’s like to go to a grocery store to buy your own stuff because you’re not “old enough” to handle money, you will be dropped off to your school gate (or classroom in my case) and picked up back home even if you’re way past middle school or even if you’re in college you’re never allowed to travel alone.

The saddest part is that we’ll get the least amount of time to spend with our grandparents, because by the time you’re born your grandparents are either too old or too tired for your childishness because they’ve done it all before with your elder ones.

Speaking of having seen it all before, your family is used to everything that you’ll ever discover. Like if we fall of the stairs they’ll be like “oh so what your elder brother/sister fell of a mountain and he survived”, or you start walking for the first time and they’ll be like “oh so what? Your elder brother/sister walked by themselves two days after birth” -_-

All of the annoying truths aside, being the youngest child(or the only child) does have its perks. And the most important of them all is that we are spoiled AF. And the list of pros goes on and on like

You can play more than the elder siblings. Someone will always help you with your homework or studies. No pressure to succeed. No punishments for temper tantrums. Watch more TV, computer. Can get away with anything you do because “you’re just a kid”

Best part? No one has high expectations for you. Because the burden of ‘setting a good example’ is always on the back of the older ones, and thus the parents set a low bar for you (maybe no bar at all). And since you’re the “baby” in the house you can always get away with any nuisance you cause, because everyone easily forgives you, or sometimes even bribe you with your favourite candy or pizza or clothes.

All jokes aside it’s pretty amazing being the youngest kid ; P