Around 80% of Americans have at least one sibling, and I am no exception. As the younger of two, there has always been this annoying presence constantly looking over my shoulder, generally making my life more difficult than it should be, my brother.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my brother, but for most of my young life, I didn’t like my brother. I didn’t really understand how much of an impact he had on me until he left for college. Without him even knowing it, he’s actually taught me to tackle difficult problems, allowed me to socialize effectively, and made me more responsible by watching and imitating him.

Having him around has had a profound effect on my life, from my outside relations to my ability to deal with conflict.

Since I am not the only person in the world with a sibling, I’m not really ‘labeled’ as anything, unlike most only children, since most people tend to think of them as spoiled, attention-seeking, or awkward in social situations. This is because they never had a brother or sister to grow up with, fight with, or learn from. 

Most kids without siblings also tend to have biased opinions of what having a sibling is like. For instance, sophomore Nikole Gaydos said that she thinks that “if you have a sibling either you hate them or you’re best friends.” 

To be honest she’s not entirely wrong. However, many people fall into a middle relationship with their sibling where sometimes they get along and sometimes they don’t.

Maria Erquiaga said, “there are times when I love being in a big family but also times when I wish it weren’t so big.” She is the second oldest of seven and in a big family, it tends to “get a little loud and a little crazy.” 

I only have one brother and while I occasionally get along with him he tends to get on my nerves. 

My dad used to say, “sometimes [your siblings] take your stuff without asking and sometimes your parents have to do stuff for them and not you. [your parents] have to split their attention to accommodate all the demands on their time.” 

While sharing can be annoying it does teach you that there are other people in this world and you can’t be the center of attention all the time. 

 My dad, the eldest of five, said.“[Being the eldest sibling] I definitely got in trouble more because I had more responsibility and I had to babysit my siblings or drive them around,” You learn that sometimes you have to take responsibility for yourself and your actions, and look out for your siblings because no one else will. 

Having a sibling forces you to have a relationship with someone for the rest of your life. There is not much that you can do to make them hate you so much they’ll never talk to you again. This means you can act however rudely, or kindly, that you want to your sibling and at the end of the day, you’ll still have to share a bathroom.

Growing up with a brother, I was much better suited to make friends. We fought a lot as kids and still do today, but that probably gave me two of my most important life skills: arguing and being able to be insulted. That kind of sounds bad, but siblings squabble, and after hearing someone yell insults at you, you become better suited to taking them. 

Having more than one sibling is even more different. Not only do you have more people to deal with, but you also have more people to hang out with. Growing up without siblings kind of seems lonely to me. If I was ever bored, I could go and find my brother. If he didn’t want to play with me I’d annoy him until my mom had to intervene. Even though we didn’t get along most of the time, he was still a part of my life, and now that he’s in college, it’s odd not having him around. 

My mom, who grew up as the second eldest of nine, said,  “Most of the time I preferred having siblings. There was always someone to play with growing up, someone to annoy, and now some of my siblings are close friends.”