The Plight of the Older Brother

I realize that every family works differently when it comes to handling children and the relationships between siblings. And I also realize that your perspective on birth order and your own situation, in particular, is very much influenced by your own experience.

I am the first born in my family. The oldest. I vividly remember being told I was "too big" for a lot of things that my little brother was allowed to do. For example, back in the late 70s and and early 80s, before the dawn of mandatory car seats, the way we rode in my mother's car was, well, shocking. I would sit in the passenger seat up front and my brother would sit on top of the arm rest. I'm not kidding. And however much I wanted to sit on the arm rest, I was always told I was too old and too big for it (based on the fact that my head would block the rear view mirror).

So I have a lot of empathy for OBB and his current plight. He is having to learn to share, while his sister is not. He has spent the past 18 months having to let her get her way and forgo his own wants because she's a baby and she doesn't understand.

And today, yet another chapter in the Plight of the Older Brother was written...


Baby Girl discovered OBB's red car...





















And somehow convinced her brother to pull her around the yard. Because when you don't walk, you pretty much have to spend your time outside being pulled or pushed around in things. Isn't he a sweetheart?
























Then his father really tested his patience by giving his little sister her first ride on an ATV...as you can see, OBB is definitely not sure about this.

















So he decided to do what any self-respecting almost 4-year-old would...run along side and chase the ATV, begging his Daddy for a turn.



























And then it finally worked.