I have always greatly admired my sister’s independence. Being the oldest child, she was always forced to learn how to do things herself, whether it had to do with school, work, or personal matters. Since she knows how difficult it is to have minimal guidance when making important decisions, she is always willing to go out of her way to help others whenever they are in need of advice or assistance. However, it seems that whenever I, her own sister, ask her for help, she refuses to do so because she thinks that “it’s not fair” that she had to learn how to do everything herself while I get “babied” by being given advice . Every time I ask her a simple question about school, she always tells me, “Shivani, you just have to make mistakes and learn from them. Just pretend like I don’t exist and then make a decision.” This always infuriates me. I don’t get it. How am I supposed to pretend that I don’t have a sister when I clearly do. I lived my whole life knowing that I have an older sibling. How am I supposed to just “pretend” as if a person I’ve lived with my whole life doesn’t exist.
I mean isn’t the point of having an older sibling so that they can help guide you and protect you from the mistakes that they made. Isn’t my older supposed to always be there for me? I honestly believe that my sister is overly dramatic about her experiences as the oldest child. I would think that because she didn’t have anyone to guide her when she was younger, she would want to spare me from the same experiences by giving me advice. But no, that’s not the case. I guess it’s for my own benefit because I’m more independent since I am forced to make decisions by myself. However, I still think it’s annoying. I mean, it’s not my fault that I wasn’t my parent’s first child.
