The average person usually has a sibling or more, or they’re an only child. You’d really think that there’s no way someone could be both. Though, a lot of times there are parents who have two kids that are ten years apart or more, and that’s all they have. It’s a fairly common occurrence, this happens with quite a few parents. It seems like a pretty complicated thing, like it’d be kind of hard for someone who’s a teenager or almost an adult to deal with a little sibling out of nowhere. It also seems like it would be hard for the younger sibling growing up. They grow up knowing they have sibling, but a sibling who feels like they aren’t really a sibling, if that makes sense. It’s pretty much like being an only child for both sides. I’m going to explain, in the most detail I can manage, about what it’s like to have a sister who is twelve years older than you.

My sister was born in the 90’s, 1990 to be exact. Twelve years later, in 2002, I was born. So, my sister grew up for twelve years as an only child, another child coming out of basically nowhere was most likely not a pleasing thing to her. By the time I was in kindergarten, she was a junior in high school. I can’t say she really spent a lot of time with me when I was younger, she usually didn’t want much to do with me. She dealt with me at times, but of course she didn’t want to. What normal teenager wants to play some made up game with a five year old? I remember she was usually fairly distant with me, she was also pretty mean a lot of the time. When there’s that much of an age difference, it’s really hard for siblings to actually get along. They can’t relate on anything. Being me, I was a fairly annoying child and I argued a lot, I argued about anything and everything. Of course my sister would rebut everything I said and that caused a lot of problems between us as well. Having children that far apart is almost problematic in and of itself, you know those kids probably aren’t going to function well together just cause of the difference. Nonetheless, I digress. My sister started college, yet still lived at home because it was close by. I was in second grade by the time she started, I was seven. During her college years, we ended up moving and she had to stay behind for college. She came home on weekends, mainly to visit our mother. At this point, I was beginning to become an only child.

My sister graduated college, shortly after that she moved out. She wasn’t super far away or anything, but at that point I was an only child. An only child who also had an older sister, that’s a weird thing to think about. My sister later got married and moved with her husband to a town a few hours away. After that, they moved once more. It was a bit farther away. Then my parents and I moved. Now, I rarely see my older sister. I’m pretty much an only child at this point. I live my basic daily life without her, it’s just our parents and I (and some dogs). I think the most interesting part about having a sibling that much older than you is being able to experience both sides. I experienced having a sibling, but I’ve also experienced being an only child. Dealing with both is kind of weird overall, but it’s been pretty nice to be able to have both of these things.

I know there’s often times where kids want to have siblings or want to be an only child, and I can’t really say which is better. A perk of having a sibling is having someone to mess around with and bother, even if they aren’t that fond of you. A perk of being an only child is you don’t have to deal with anyone else and your parents worry about just you. There’s ups and downs to both, it really just depends. Nonetheless, it’s an odd thing to deal with. It’s weird growing up with a sibling and then changing to be an only child when they leave, just because of the age difference. It’s weird, but interesting.