Pangs of Being an Elder Child
The Pangs of Being the Elder Child
I am a girl of sixteen years and as many of you may think that I am obsessed with my privacy or living in seclusion you couldn’t be any more wrong. I love cuddling my mom and going out with my dad to places of my choice. But then again I get to do that only when my little brother or, as he is still treated baby brother is not around. Even into my teens, I love getting the attention of my parents but I daren’t ask any while he is in the vicinity. We are precisely five years and ten days apart and I used to think that he would be given the same love and affection for as long as I was for having a five year head start, but believe me even after ten years that gap doesn’t seem to bridge anytime in the near future.
My mom comes from a family of four siblings having two elder sisters and a younger brother, so I don’t think that she is in the best position to understand my plight and my dad being the only child still does not get the reason I have been whining for the past ten years. And when you think the pampering couldn’t get any worse than that is when enters the elder most member of my family--my grandmother.
She treats him like one of the blue blood, as though it is her reign and she has been blest with Prince Charles himself. From the day he was born to this day that he is ten years old he continues to be her favourite member of the family being pampered to almost an appalling extent.
Most people who I share my telltale with think of it as though I am complaining of gender bias but it is certainly not true. I am as much loved a girl as I would have been had I been of the opposite gender.
What really irritates me is the fact that whatever he does or happens to him, is somehow my responsibility. I don’t get it, how am I supposed to watch out for him even if I am not with him. And to add to my misery is the fact that the both of us go to the same school, so both my mom and grandmother expect me to be keeping a hawk’s eye on him so he doesn’t land into any trouble. Just the other day, I was out of school for some competition and to my dismay my brother got into a brawl with one of his friends and when I came home all thrilled to tell my mum all about my day at the competition, I was greeted by a good thrashing from her as to how irresponsible I am and all I could do was just sit and listen.
At times when the two of us start fighting, which is very often, he always has the upper hand knowing that the consequences of him hitting me will be far more lenient than me hitting him. Even if it is his fault, he knows I won’t touch him and get into trouble so instead he goes first and gets away with it. That is one knack he masters and someday I won’t mind learning the tricks of the trade from him.
But as much as I am exaggerating, it is all not that bad. Ever since he was born I have been like a proxy mother to him doing all of his projects, helping him with homework and all sorts of chores, defending him before everyone and what not. It has not only helped me grow warm and affectionate but far more responsible than what I would have been had I been the younger or the only child. It would not be wrong to say that my brother has grown quite dependent on me and strangely enough I enjoy it.
Apart from all the fighting and quarrelling, I love him more than the world and believe me when I say it that I would not want to have it any other way. -Ana Askari
11-B
I am a girl of sixteen years and as many of you may think that I am obsessed with my privacy or living in seclusion you couldn’t be any more wrong. I love cuddling my mom and going out with my dad to places of my choice. But then again I get to do that only when my little brother or, as he is still treated baby brother is not around. Even into my teens, I love getting the attention of my parents but I daren’t ask any while he is in the vicinity. We are precisely five years and ten days apart and I used to think that he would be given the same love and affection for as long as I was for having a five year head start, but believe me even after ten years that gap doesn’t seem to bridge anytime in the near future.
My mom comes from a family of four siblings having two elder sisters and a younger brother, so I don’t think that she is in the best position to understand my plight and my dad being the only child still does not get the reason I have been whining for the past ten years. And when you think the pampering couldn’t get any worse than that is when enters the elder most member of my family--my grandmother.
She treats him like one of the blue blood, as though it is her reign and she has been blest with Prince Charles himself. From the day he was born to this day that he is ten years old he continues to be her favourite member of the family being pampered to almost an appalling extent.
Most people who I share my telltale with think of it as though I am complaining of gender bias but it is certainly not true. I am as much loved a girl as I would have been had I been of the opposite gender.
What really irritates me is the fact that whatever he does or happens to him, is somehow my responsibility. I don’t get it, how am I supposed to watch out for him even if I am not with him. And to add to my misery is the fact that the both of us go to the same school, so both my mom and grandmother expect me to be keeping a hawk’s eye on him so he doesn’t land into any trouble. Just the other day, I was out of school for some competition and to my dismay my brother got into a brawl with one of his friends and when I came home all thrilled to tell my mum all about my day at the competition, I was greeted by a good thrashing from her as to how irresponsible I am and all I could do was just sit and listen.
At times when the two of us start fighting, which is very often, he always has the upper hand knowing that the consequences of him hitting me will be far more lenient than me hitting him. Even if it is his fault, he knows I won’t touch him and get into trouble so instead he goes first and gets away with it. That is one knack he masters and someday I won’t mind learning the tricks of the trade from him.
But as much as I am exaggerating, it is all not that bad. Ever since he was born I have been like a proxy mother to him doing all of his projects, helping him with homework and all sorts of chores, defending him before everyone and what not. It has not only helped me grow warm and affectionate but far more responsible than what I would have been had I been the younger or the only child. It would not be wrong to say that my brother has grown quite dependent on me and strangely enough I enjoy it.
Apart from all the fighting and quarrelling, I love him more than the world and believe me when I say it that I would not want to have it any other way. -Ana Askari
11-B