By Summer Crawford

Staff Writer

Growing up in a household where fighting is the norm, things can get a little intense for the eldest sibling. Whether you have one, two or 10 brothers and sisters, everyone experiences aggravating moments that test your patience.

We older siblings sometimes get so wound up in drama that we forget what our job is.

Being older than my brother by three years automatically makes me the one in charge. Not every person has the opportunity to share a unique bond with a sibling, knowing each other in the closest way possible. I can sometimes forget that I am lucky to have a brother who looks up to me as a role model and asks for advice, something that I wish I was better at.

Whether you share the same blood as your sibling or not, it is key that you remember your responsibility and role as the oldest sibling. Being the first child puts a certain pressure on your shoulders from mom and dad to do well in everything, and it also inspires you to lead the way for your sibling. Most people go through life as their own person on their own mission to find whatever it is they are looking for, but I can not imagine living my life without my soon-to-be-freshman brother.

I worry about what will happen when I graduate high school and my brother is left as an only child in the household. Will he be partying it up with me gone? Will he be sad and feel like a part of him is missing?

As the oldest, I have several responsibilities that I need to check off my never ending list of things to do. Besides attending school, putting in countless hours on homework and studying, and preparing for the SAT and ACT, I must make a mental note in my mind to check in on my brother, Cole. Did he finish his homework? Check. Did he eat dinner and go to taekwondo? Check. The things I feel inclined to do are part of the job when you receive the gift of a sibling. Yes, parents are there to facilitate their children’s’ developmental processes and help them mature into an adult, but there are certain ways in which only a sibling can shape them.

I consider myself blessed to have grown up side by side with my little brother for 14 years, a long journey that has brought out the parental side of me. When you go through each and every day watching over your brother, making sure he does everything he needs to do, and playing games with him, you can not help but feel as if you are twice your age. I mean this in the best way possible.

Being the oldest is not a “job” in the sense of the working world, but it is a job of being someone’s play buddy and role model, with parents only interfering to be the referee when things get ugly.

I can not picture or even imagine what it would be like as an only child. I do not think I will ever understand how different some of my friends’ lives are who do not have brothers or sisters. A big part of who I am and how I affect my brother is learning to rely on people besides myself. That is something Cole has taught me, that in order to accomplish my goals in life and succeed, I must open up and lean on the people closest to my heart.

It has been a great 14 years with my brother. I feel as if I am not only his sister but also his friend. There is no guide telling you what life is like being the oldest sibling; it is a life of unwritten words from the manual to raising your younger sibling. In my chaotic family of all boy cousins, I like to think that I give Cole a different perspective on life. Both of my parents were the youngest siblings in their families, so I get to fill in the “oldest sibling shoes.”

All of those nights watching ESPN, “Sportscenter” and playing Halo are not so bad when I realize that the bond with my sibling has grown tighter. There is something so special about sharing your life with someone with the same genes and characteristics as you. I hope to leave my brother with a positive outlook on life, and tell him to never give up on his sport that he so dearly loves or on himself.