Oldest

It's hard being the oldest sibling. I know from nearly 22 years of experience. Oldests have to be the responsible ones who get up first for the shower in the morning and then wake up the rest of the troops once they're done. They have to remember to take lunches to school (and remind the younger ones), make sure the school bus waits while the slower ones struggle to the bus stop through snow drifts, get the younger ones ready for bed if the parents are busy or dealing with another child. They have to edit their siblings' English papers and try to help them with math problems that they can't even remember how to do because they did those problems three, four, five years earlier. Oldests have to set examples in orderliness, character, and creativity. But the benefit of being the oldest sibling is that you got x amount of years alone with your parents before the others came on the scene. Unfortunately for most of us, those years happen when we aren't really aware of the alone time with our parents before it's over.