Being the oldest of four girls has many ups but even more downs. Sometimes it’s fun being the oldest, like being able to tell your siblings what to do, but other times it’s not as fun, especially when you are getting blamed for something you did not do.

I have three younger sisters. Ashlee, the closest in age to me, is 15 years old. We are a year and one month apart. She has red hair and glasses and is the most different from the rest of my sisters and I. My next sister is Emma, who is the smart one. She is 12 years old and loves to be in school and read. She and I fight the most because we are the most alike, which most of the time I don’t like to admit. The youngest of us all is Serena. She is 8 years old and is what I like to call the “spoiled” one of the family. Which leads me to why being the oldest of the family is not so fun.

There have been many times where I have been blamed for things that aren’t even my fault. I don’t really know why this is, maybe it’s because my sisters feel the need to blame me because they know I will get in the most trouble because, as my mom likes to say, “I should know better.”

Another downfall to being the oldest child in the family is my parents are a lot more strict with me. They are more strict when it comes to my curfew times. Freshman year my curfew was 11 o’clock. Now of course I was not happy with the time of my curfew but I couldn’t argue with my parents. So that was that, until Ashlee was allowed to stay out until 11:30, which was not okay with me. I am the oldest and I should have the later curfew, right? But because I had been late by only a few minutes the past two times I was with friends, my curfew stayed at 11 o’ clock. I guess the lesson learned here it that you should always be on time when it comes to your curfew.

Another disadvantage to being the oldest child is always having to babysit my younger sisters and always having to watch over them. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to skip out on hanging out with my friends just to watch my sisters. So instead of going to a friends house or the movie, I have to stay at home and watch my siblings.

Now with all the disadvantages, comes some advantages. An advantage that I like about being the oldest child is that you can boss your younger siblings around and get away with it... most of the time. Whenever my little sisters ask why, all you have to say is “because I’m older” and no one can argue with that.

Another plus of being the oldest is you don’t have to get old hand- me- downs. This is always a plus because it means that you can go shopping for new clothes and don’t have to wear clothes that we worn by an older sibling. I sometimes feel bad that my sisters get all of my old clothes.

One of my favorite things about being the oldest child is that I have to be a good example and a good role model for my younger sisters. I like this part of being the oldest child because I feel responsible and I like knowing that my sisters are looking up to me. Some people might say that they don’t like this part of being the oldest but I would have to disagree.

While being the oldest child of the family has its ups and downs, and doesn’t always go the way I want, I wouldn’t change it for anything.