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author_by_night"Aww, you're an only child! Are you spoiled? I bet you're spoiled."
"God, you must have been so lonely growing up."
"Only children are totes like the oldest because they're smarter and more responsible than anyone else."
1. Lonely? Ha! Here's the thing: When you grow up with two people in your house, maybe a third or fourth at times if you have a relative who lives with you, you're used to being alone. Too used to it. You hated group projects in school not just because of the awkward politics, but because you weren't used to having to do one activity with other people - and you were also used to activities being led by adults, who were generally easier to work with. Generally.
This isn't to say it doesn't get lonely sometimes. But only children don't go through life crying. Really. If anything, sometimes it's more the idealism of siblings that makes us lonely. And even then, when we read books like these as kids...
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... maybe not having a younger sister who hates me because I use "big words", or an older sister who hates me because I'm not a genius, is okay.
2. In some ways, we're old souls.
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It's simple, really - when your primary social group consists of Mom, Dad, and other adult family members, you're more exposed to adult thinking. You also tend to gravitate towards friends who are of a similar mindset. So you outgrow calling people "booger heads" before you're even at the age where that's a thing. You also know about adult issues because that's what adults talk about. Even if your Mom's a Lorelai, Lorelai's still older than you. She's seen things eight year olds haven't.
3. On the other hand, we're also hopelessly naive.
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Old Yeller? That's the happy movie!
First, only children don't have something very very crucial: Older siblings. Nobody tells you the ten different words for sex. Nobody blurts out bad words at dinner. You don't catch your brother making out with his new girlfriend. Nope. You might have older cousins, but generally they're around when parents are around to keep things PG. Or they're overprotective, which brings me to my second point.
This is true for some kids with older siblings as well - sometimes even older cousins, and siblings, take on a "second Mom" role. So they also let you believe Old Yeller lives happily ever after, because they don't think you're ready to be corrupted just yet. They also think you still need to be coached on all life decisions, even minor things such as what to eat for breakfast. Even when you're forty. You're the innocent, and everyone wants to keep it that way.
4. We do have brothers and sisters.
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Although being lonely isn't a huge problem, we are always on the lookout for surrogate siblings. So when we say we don't have brothers or sisters, we're only really talking biology. :)
(And on that note, we hate when we're mistaken for dating a brother/sister. It's like suggesting that of real siblings. Stop doing that.)
5. Yep, we're a little spoiled.
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Of course, levels and forms of being spoiled may vary. But this goes back to the fact that we always have people watching after us, again much like youngest kids: Someone always makes sure we're happy, even when we don't want it. So yeah, we kind of get used to things being our way. We're used to having a say in what goes on, because there's usually only two other people to express desires to. We're used to not having to share.
This doesn't necessarily make us bratty, however. It does, however, sometimes make us harder to work with. Conversely, we can also be exceedingly neutral and have low expectations - because we're used to everyone being fair. Never ask me where you think we should eat. I don't care. No, I really do not care. Whatever everyone else decides. :) At the same time, talking in the library pisses me off, because can't everyone see I'm trying to concentrate?! *Bangs fists on table*
What birth order (I'm beginning to hate that term) are you, and what don't people know about it? Feel free to do a similar meme, or just comment here. :)
"God, you must have been so lonely growing up."
"Only children are totes like the oldest because they're smarter and more responsible than anyone else."
1. Lonely? Ha! Here's the thing: When you grow up with two people in your house, maybe a third or fourth at times if you have a relative who lives with you, you're used to being alone. Too used to it. You hated group projects in school not just because of the awkward politics, but because you weren't used to having to do one activity with other people - and you were also used to activities being led by adults, who were generally easier to work with. Generally.
This isn't to say it doesn't get lonely sometimes. But only children don't go through life crying. Really. If anything, sometimes it's more the idealism of siblings that makes us lonely. And even then, when we read books like these as kids...
... maybe not having a younger sister who hates me because I use "big words", or an older sister who hates me because I'm not a genius, is okay.
2. In some ways, we're old souls.
It's simple, really - when your primary social group consists of Mom, Dad, and other adult family members, you're more exposed to adult thinking. You also tend to gravitate towards friends who are of a similar mindset. So you outgrow calling people "booger heads" before you're even at the age where that's a thing. You also know about adult issues because that's what adults talk about. Even if your Mom's a Lorelai, Lorelai's still older than you. She's seen things eight year olds haven't.
3. On the other hand, we're also hopelessly naive.
Old Yeller? That's the happy movie!
First, only children don't have something very very crucial: Older siblings. Nobody tells you the ten different words for sex. Nobody blurts out bad words at dinner. You don't catch your brother making out with his new girlfriend. Nope. You might have older cousins, but generally they're around when parents are around to keep things PG. Or they're overprotective, which brings me to my second point.
This is true for some kids with older siblings as well - sometimes even older cousins, and siblings, take on a "second Mom" role. So they also let you believe Old Yeller lives happily ever after, because they don't think you're ready to be corrupted just yet. They also think you still need to be coached on all life decisions, even minor things such as what to eat for breakfast. Even when you're forty. You're the innocent, and everyone wants to keep it that way.
4. We do have brothers and sisters.
Although being lonely isn't a huge problem, we are always on the lookout for surrogate siblings. So when we say we don't have brothers or sisters, we're only really talking biology. :)
(And on that note, we hate when we're mistaken for dating a brother/sister. It's like suggesting that of real siblings. Stop doing that.)
5. Yep, we're a little spoiled.
Of course, levels and forms of being spoiled may vary. But this goes back to the fact that we always have people watching after us, again much like youngest kids: Someone always makes sure we're happy, even when we don't want it. So yeah, we kind of get used to things being our way. We're used to having a say in what goes on, because there's usually only two other people to express desires to. We're used to not having to share.
This doesn't necessarily make us bratty, however. It does, however, sometimes make us harder to work with. Conversely, we can also be exceedingly neutral and have low expectations - because we're used to everyone being fair. Never ask me where you think we should eat. I don't care. No, I really do not care. Whatever everyone else decides. :) At the same time, talking in the library pisses me off, because can't everyone see I'm trying to concentrate?! *Bangs fists on table*
What birth order (I'm beginning to hate that term) are you, and what don't people know about it? Feel free to do a similar meme, or just comment here. :)
