6 Little Things Only People Who Grew Up With A Bossy Older Sibling Will Understand

1. You couldn’t say no to them.

When your parents were not at home, they would ask you to do things for them even when they knew you’re in the middle of a game. “Bring me water. Buy me this and that. Sweep the milk I spilled on the floor.” Or sometimes, they would wake you up at 2 a.m. and say, “Hey, you wanna go hunt ghosts with me?” You just couldn’t refuse because you were more afraid of the consequences than the ghosts. Whatever they asked you to do seemed to be a contract you signed for.

2. You had a bully at home.

No matter how they pissed you off, you had no choice but to accept them as your sibling because you lived at the same house. You felt sorry for yourself for needing to endure their not-so-harsh treatment which your aunt found cute because the only means you had to show disgust was a pouty scowl. Your parents got tired of scolding your sibling because they didn’t really catch all the actions you were accusing them. How skillful.

3. What is yours is theirs, but never vice versa.

Touch their things and you’re dead. You are lucky if you were allowed to borrow their possessions (bet there were conditions!) or luckier if there were chances they shared their food with you. A piece of Oreo is already an honor, you know? But you? Whatever snack you were holding belonged to them as well. You couldn’t hide it because their noses seemed to be gifted with strong sense of smell. Just wow. And even after you glued posters of Do Not Disturb and Keep Out on your door, they would still break in and jump into your bed. Do that to them and you’ll regret. Nonetheless, they still tried to give you wonderful gifts on your birthdays and every Christmas. (Of course, you pretended you didn’t know your parents just convinced them.)

4. You felt like you had a third parent.

As you grew older, they got more credentials to nag and discipline you because they couldn’t be the only one to experience the discipline your parents imposed on them. It would be unfair, right? (*Eye rolls*) And sometimes your parents would just say, just listen to your brother/sister; he/she had more experiences than you do! You got tired of hearing such comments so you just had to injure yourself to it and obey. You learned a lot anyway, didn’t you?

5. You’ve found a best friend in them.

As you both mature you realized that your childish rivalry and arguments served as magnets between you. You gradually turned into friends because there were things that only the two of you would understand. And later did you find out that your former bully had turned into someone who would protect you. Someone who would shoo away anyone who could hurt you. Someone who would save you from anything that could trouble you.

6. You consider them your other wing.

And so you just can’t imagine losing them. You realized their bossiness just teaches you so much and makes you a stronger person. Their protective love is there to keep you from harm. Their toughness is yours to lean on. And you know that every pain they had caused you before in your younger years was already equated with so many wonderful moments. You learned to love as a family. You learned to cherish each other as friends. So now they mean so much to you.

And you mean so much more to them.