I don't really know how I came up with the idea for this post but some time ago I was randomly thinking about what growing up with an older brother meant for me and what it was like when we were children so I thought why not write it all down. If you didn't know, which you probably didn't because I don't think I mentioned it on here before, I have a brother who's four years older than me. There are quite a few things I experienced growing up with him and I think if you do have an older brother as well you might relate to those points, or at least to some of them. Also, I know the picture doesn't have anything to do with the topic but I don't really want to post a childhood picture of us on the Internet so I guess we'll just go with it.
The first thing that came to my mind and probably the most obvious aspect of growing up with an older brother is that I used to play a lot of 'boy stuff'. And I loved it! Of course I did some more girly things as well, but I spent a lot of time playing with my brother so we would use toy cars, dragon-ball figures, Pokemon cards, swords and all that fun stuff. In our imagination we were spies, ninjas, rebels or footballers. That actually leads me to my favourite thing which was playing football with my brother and neighbour. Nearly every weekend we went outside, put up our fancy goal our parents got for us and kicked the ball until it got too dark to see what we were doing. Sometimes we continued even though the ball was nothing but a moving shadow before our eyes. Looking back on it, it makes me smile when I think about how much fun I had with the boys.
Another thing I loved was wearing my brothers old clothes. Again, I had my own, a bit more girly clothes as well, but I remember feeling totally comfortable in sweaters or shorts that didn't fit him anymore. One of the most beautiful things about being a kid is that you couldn't care less about what you're wearing and that you don't mind getting old stuff from your siblings. Actually, sometimes I still do wear my brothers old sweaters because they're honestly so comfortable.
Something that always really annoyed me is when our parents weren't home and my brother acted like he's the one in charge, the one who can tell me what to do. I mean technically he was the one in charge because obviously he was older so he had the responsibility to look after me and make sure we both behaved but still, him being all bossy annoyed me so much. Also, he used to prank me a lot. I remember that one time where he came to my room with a little bag made out of paper in his hands. He told me it was a lucky bag and that I could buy it from him. I was naive enough to give him the money (of course he didn't ask for much), opened the bag and found an already chewed chewing gum. I was so disappointed, got angry and started crying so then he had to give me back the money. It makes me laugh every time I look back on it now but in that moment I definitely didn't think it was funny.
The thing about my brother and I is that we really look alike so all of his friends always immediately knew who I was and sometimes they would call me 'Roberto Two' (which is my brothers name). I don't know if that's the case for little sisters in general but it's something I used to hate. Well okay, sometimes I hated it, but not going to lie, sometimes I probably also liked the attention I got.
When you grow up with an older brother there will be arguments, he might act like he's the boss quite a lot and he'll make you cry with stupid pranks but there are a lot of positive aspects to it as well. In fact, getting to spend your childhood with someone by your side who always has your back, looks out for you and protects you, is such an amazing feeling. I don't know what it's like to have a sister but having a brother is pretty great. Even now when we don't see each other that much anymore because he's at university or at work while I'm at school I still know that he'll always be there for me.
That's the beautiful thing about siblings in general, no matter how much you fight or what happens, you do have a lifelong friend. And when you're lucky enough to have an older brother, you'll always have a lifelong protector as well.
I hope you didn't mind this a bit more rambling post. Do you have an older brother? What's your favourite memory of growing up with him?
Thank you for reading, until next Tuesday. Sara x
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