A recent study shows that parents tend to be tougher on the oldest child than the younger ones. They expect more from the eldest, and often have higher standards (which, in my book, translates into double standards!)...
An excerpt from the article linked above is as follows:
Ed Newman, a first-born...would never consider breaking his 11 p.m. curfew. He even remembers ignoring a group of buddies who repeatedly rapped on his window one night, trying to get him to come out. “It just seemed … wrong,” says Newman, now 55 and living in Duluth, Minn.Please, you could just switch out Ed's name for mine and my brother's name for baby brother Robert in the excerpt above!!Flash forward 30-odd years later, and Newman’s youngest brother, eight years his junior, hits him with this piece of information: Baby brother Robert didn’t even have a curfew growing up.
“I knew my parents had loosened up some, but I didn’t know they had loosened up completely!” says Newman.
This is the same brother, Newman adds, who once singed off his eyelashes and eyebrows after making an explosive that blew up in his face.
Now, I have to admit to a few tarnishes on my halo - I often missed my curfew, but by 15-20 minutes....NOT hours! But, I doubt my brother even had a curfew, and if it was, it was sun-up! And keep in mind that my brother DID set the floor of his bedroom on fire, but hey, we won't go there.
This goes to prove what I've been saying all along! I never gave my parents real reason to worry - I was an honor student, always was where I told them I'd be, followed the rules - and yet they were extremely strict with me (to the point that my friends still make fun of it to this day). My brother, on the other hand? He gave them PLENTY of reason to worry but they never were as strict with him.
Fair? I think not. But at least now I have scientific evidence that I was right all along! :)
2 comments:
You first borns are just sorry you didn't have fun, and now you're blaming us!!
Damn skippy! :) You got that right Leslie! :-D
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