Is it more advantageous being eldest or youngest in the family?

For me it is more advantageous being the eldest, because if I were the youngest then I would be in someone else’s family, and I’m far too old to learn an entirely new pecking order.

Being the eldest carries so much responsibility, that at times is so overwhelming, sooo overwhelming. In my experience, it has been too much. I’ve had so much pressure since I was a kid that I pushed myself at times way too hard, which also contributed to a number of personal problems. At time, I don’t know, I am just tired of living…

Youngest. By the time you get born, Mom and Dad have already learned from the mistakes they made with the oldest, and maybe you’ll get the love and attention from the older kids that Mom and Dad don’t/didn’t have time for.

No matter where you come in the birth order, somebody else has it better. Or so I seem to hear.

From my perspective being the youngest is being the most vulnerable and the most picked on.

I was the baby boy and my two older sisters were always a step ahead of me. Also they were mean to me.

We had little to no adult supervision and they were in charge of me. They enjoyed dressing me up in their girl cloths and tickling me until I passed out. They also like to ridicule me if offered my thoughts on anything. I learned early to not try to match whits with them.

The eldest has the hardest rules.
By the time the youngest faces them, the parents are worn down.
(I am an overlooked middle child)

Questions of birth order largely elude me, as a twin. (My brother is, for the most part, nothing like me). What’s disadvantageous about it is being a twin who has always been smaller than his brother, leading many to assume he is several years older (when in reality I was the first to be born, by several minutes!)

Do twins get an only child’s level of attention halved? I’ve never thought about it much.

^It must be tough job for your mother for sure!

There’s 4 kids total, and I’m a middle child. But, since I only live with my younger brother I am the oldest sibling in the house.
I’d say it sucks being older.
My brother gets everything he asks and I get told to fuck off

My brother asks for a 300$ guitar amp and he gets it, I ask for a 20$ winter coat and I get told “we have no money” He gets everythinggg

^lol..Discrimination does exist at every level!! I must say in my case didn’t get any undue advantage for being younger. It was mostly even game.

The older ones get to do stuff first, and the younger ones are envious. (“You let her stay up late. Why can’t I?”)

The younger ones get to do stuff at an earlier age, and the older ones are resentful. (“She gets to go out with a boy and she’s only fourteen. You didn’t let me go until I was sixteen.”)

The first one is a novelty. The younger ones are just more of the same. (“How come you took him to a ball game but you never took me?”)

The rules are more relaxed after the first. (“You never let me have one of those!”) (“If I’d done that, I’d have been grounded for life.”)

The first gets the new stuff. (“Do I have to wear his old shirt? I hate it.”)

The youngest has the advantage of changes with the times. (“He gets two dollars? All I got was one.”)

The older ones get fresher parents. The younger ones get tireder parents. There’s something to be said for more and less parental energy.

Too much responsibility falls on the first. (“They expect me to babysit, run errands, set a good example…”). Too much responsibility falls on the last. (“The others are gone and living their own lives, and I’m still stuck here running errands for Mom.”)

Anyone might have to do the tough stuff. (“Why do I have to figure out how to get Dad into an assisted living facility?”)

Let’s hear the chorus—all together now: ”It’s not fair!”

^lol..GA @Jeruba..)