1. He toughens you up at a young age. Older brother might as well be another word for tough love. From giving you a hard time about literally everything in your life, to being a little bit mean/brutally honest to you at times, older brothers have a way of subconsciously building strength and power within you.

2. He brings the inner competitor in you. Whether you are yearning to prove him wrong, or even show your parents that you can be cool too. You will find yourself drawing inspiration from him, he will challenge you to get out of your comfort zone.

3. He is the cool dad you always wished for. There are some things you can’t tell your dad that you will definitely tell your brother. He will be more open minded and more understanding when you talk to him about issues that your dad will never comprehend.

4. He is your lawyer. He will cover up for you when you mess up and take the blame from time to time. One thing about older brothers, they have a way with parents and always know how to get their sisters out of trouble.

5. He doesn’t let you get away with things. If you think you evaded your parents with his help. He will be there to pick up the pieces and then throw them back at you!

6. He has a BS radar. If he doesn’t approve of the new friend you made in school, or the man you like, listen to him. He has a radar for who is not genuine with his sister or who is about to screw his sister over.

7. He is always right. You may not always listen to him, but as much as you hate to admit it, he knows what he is talking about, and unfortunately is always right.

8. His words may hurt you. Older brothers are not sensitive with their words, and won’t frost their words to make you feel better. They will hit you with the truth like a bat and it will hurt, but it will open to your eyes to the truth your were too blind to see.

9. He is secretly your best-friend. He was your best friend before you even had friends, he was there when you had no one and he always had your back.

10. He gives you the keys to understand men. Just by living with him or eavesdropping on his conversations with his friends. You know a great deal about men and how they think, you probably know too much.

11. He knows how to make you laugh. And forget about your sorrows. He knows all your embarrassing memories, he has seen you make a fool of yourself. It is always refreshing to talk to him when you are down.

12. He introduces you to new sports, video games, and cooler music. You were always ahead of the curve because your brother passed his progressive tastes and gadgets on to you.

13. He is your tutor. He helped you study when you were struggling with a subject, but more importantly, he helped you study people, he helped you study life, he helped you study adulthood.

14. He sets the bar pretty high. You know a certain kind of love and protection that you can’t fall short of. This is why you have high standards, it is hard to find someone who can measure up to him, even harder to find someone that he approves of.

15. He is your personal FBI. He will be the first to investigate this new friend or love interest and come up with a full report better than any extensive FBI report. Never underestimate the ability of an older brother to find things out.

16. People suck up to you. Girls will talk you because you have a handsome older brother, boys will talk to you because they want to hang out with your cool older brother. Either way–you win.

17. Wherever you go, you will be taken good care of. Because people know your brother and respect him, they will always be extra nice to you. For some reason, people respect you more when they know you have an older brother–society works in mysterious ways.

18. He is your technician, your mover, your IT consultant and your handy man. Pretty much he is there to fix anything that needs fixing–including you.

19. He is your call to the rescue. Flat tire? Creepy man following you? You’re having a nervous breakdown? Can’t open your new peanut butter jar? Your older brother will always be your call to the rescue, no matter how much you fight or argue, when all hell breaks loose, you won’t call anyone but him; not your dad, not your boyfriend or husband, not your best friend- you, will call your brother, because you know that no matter what, he will be your savior.

20. He is your safe haven. There is a sense of safety and security in knowing you have an older brother you can depend on and rely on in times of need. In a way, he is your superhero.