Your Pecking Order... Oldest, Middle, Youngest or Only?

dseag2

dseag2

Dallas, TX
Location
Dallas, TX
I'll start by saying I'm an only child. That comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Yes, you get your parent's complete attention, but all the expectation is on you to succeed and continue the family legacy (one out of two ain't bad ;)). You can be their biggest joy or their biggest disappointment. It can also be more difficult to interact with others since you are not used to being around siblings.

My partner is a middle-child. His older brother is "rain man" intelligent and very creative (clothing designer) and his younger sister is beautiful and intelligent and was always the Princess in the family. I'm pretty sure she was Homecoming Queen in high school. Her brothers doted on her and actually hand-sewed her wedding dress for her. My partner was always a handsome and popular guy, but he really developed a knack for being very charming and funny. Typically, that is a defense for not wanting to get lost in between siblings.

If anyone else wants to share, it might make for an interesting thread.
 

I was the baby in the family, and had 3 older siblings. I was a surprise though, my mother had me at 40 and didn't even know she was expecting for months, she thought she was going through menopause. I had a sister 12 yrs. older, a sister 8 yrs. older and a brother 4 yrs. older. Although I was loved by my family, I wasn't spoiled. I wore hand me downs from both my sisters and my brother, and I don't think my siblings were crazy about being stuck taking care of me and doing things with me, similar to what dobielvr said. My mother wasn't ready to be raising another baby, but she did her best and took very good care of me. I was pretty quiet and well behaved as a kid, not cocky or assertive.
 

Last edited:
I am the middle child in a family with 5 children. The middle is not an enviable position. I was treated like my older brother and sister when it came to doing chores, but treated like my younger brother and sister when it was bedtime or the older ones were allowed to go to a movie with my Dad. One unhappy memory was when we visited Niagara Falls and my Dad took the older two on the boat ride to the Falls and my Mom said I was too young. I was about 10 years old.

I wore hand me downs from my older brother and sister while the younger two wore new clothes because the hand me downs were all worn out by the time they could fit in them.
 
I am the 5th born of 6. I don't know what you'd call that--I'm certainly not the middle child or the oldest but the second youngest. I was the baby of the family for about 7 years before my sister was born. I got picked on by the oldest siblings. I would cry to my mom about it. I would wrestle with my brother who was 3 years older than I and won for quite awhile until he developed muscles, end of story! I had fun playing games with my younger sister.
 
Oldest....old fashion to the rest. I have 7 sisters and one brother.
I at 72 remember all their days yet never hear from any.
Tried reaching out not a good idea.
I felt as the oldest pushed off my throne several times.
Baby sat often and worked full time.
Felt now denied the respect I thought would had been given yet never lonely for friends.
Too busy to screw up my life too soon.
A large family is ok when a child yet leaving home was to find out how much they consumed mother's time.
So I felt like an orphan.
I always had someone to setup games to play it was fun up until I married and found out divorce did not help me get the family comforts I thought brought with it. Ok the Walton's I never felt it was for me ....like looking in from the outside tragically things happen to never quite recover from the ostracizing practices they banded together now I can understand the whys.
 
I grew up an only child (who was "acquired" by my grand uncle and his wife as a baby). God sure blessed me in that regard. I discovered my half siblings when I was 51 years old. My older brother and my sister bonded with me immediately. My brother also became close with my husband. My oldest sister, who I'm told I'm the spitting image of, had passed away years before I met them and the younger brother lived a distance so we never bonded. But one thing my sister loves to do is point out to me and others that I'm the "baby sister". LOL...she gets such a kick out of that. And I let her have that. :D Both my brothers passed away 9 and10 years after I met them.
 
Middle of 3 brothers.
Seemed to me I was always forgotten.
When Christmas came around, always got the lesser presents.

Later in life I figured out it wasn't really a thing.

By that I mean, it wasn't something my parents did on purpose.
Just something I thought in my head.

Anyway, as my Mom always said " You were a perfect child " so I got that going for me!
 
I'm in the middle. My sister is 2 years younger.
My brother is 2 years older.
I also have a half sister from my mom's first marriage that I didn't know about until I was 15. She's 5 years older than me. She was born in Israel. My mother abandoned her when she was 6 months old after her arranged marriage was annulled. My mom was forced to tell me about her because she was going to stay with us for a couple of weeks. At first, I thought she was an aunt, then I noticed how much she looked like my sister; they were like twins.
My brother is a piece of work - thief, convicted felon, racist.
I often had my dad laughing hysterically when I'd say to him: "Dad, what the hell were you & mom thinking? Were all the pharmacies out of condoms?"
 
win231 said:
I'm in the middle. My sister is 2 years younger.
My brother is 2 years older.
I also have a half sister from my mom's first marriage that I didn't know about until I was 15. She's 5 years older than me. She was born in Israel. My mother abandoned her when she was 6 months old after her arranged marriage was annulled. My mom was forced to tell me about her because she was going to stay with us for a couple of weeks. At first, I thought she was an aunt, then I noticed how much she looked like my sister; they were like twins.
My brother is a piece of work - thief, convicted felon, racist.
I often had my dad laughing hysterically when I'd say to him: "Dad, what the hell were you & mom thinking? Were all the pharmacies out of condoms?"
Click to expand...
They have arranged marriages in Israel?
 
I am the oldest of 3 children. My sister is 2 years younger, my brother is 6 years younger. I have a half sister, but don't count her as she was born when I was 25, and she lived with our father until she got married.

I see no advantages or disadvantages to being the oldest. Except I do like to tease my sister - she has to do what I say because I am the oldest. When I was 4, and she was 2, I apparently did all her talking for her. My mom took her to the doctor because she didn't speak. He told us both to wait outside the exam room, and then told my mother that she speaks perfectly fine, but since I talk for her, she didn't have to. I got in trouble a couple of times, once because I traded her a penny for a dime, and once because I set her to watch for my mom coming home, while I swiped some chocolate candy my mother had hidden. My sister had a big mouth. I remember my dad gave her a dime to make up for my transgression and I was mad because now she had 11 cents and I only had 10. She was mad because she didn't get any of the chocolate, probably because my mom came home and caught me. The fact is, she wasn't a good lookout.
 
hollydolly said:
I have an elder half brother from my fathers' first marriage 9 years older....

I am the eldest of the 4 kids from my mother..I have one brother a year younger than me ..and 2 sisters.. 3 and 7 years younger

I also have a step brother & sister from my fathers' 3rd mariage .. so a total of 7..
Click to expand...
😂😂did your father get bored easily holly 😂
 
I'm an only child. My parents would have liked more than one, but they were married nearly 12 years before I finally came along, and I guess by that time they decided to settle for one. They worshipped me, and I had a happy childhood. Sometimes I wished I had a sibling, especially after I grew up. But I did have what was important.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top