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Being the oldest child in a family can sound pretty nice in theory: you have younger siblings you can boss around whenever you need, pull the seniority card if they try to rebel, and you get to know you had at least one year where your parents gave you their full attention. However, the reality is there are plenty of negatives, too.

Comedian and writer Abby Govindan just tweeted one of them. It's the annoying special treatment of the younger brats you have to witness. You had to save up $60 for a Nintendo when you were 7? Your brother gets an Xbox when he's 7. You're threatened you'll be kicked out of your house if you don't make your bed? Your sister lets food rot in hers and no one says anything. That kind of stuff.

Abby's tweet has accumulated nearly 500K likes and 46K comments, many of which were written by other older siblings and detail similar struggles. Here are some of the best ones for you to enjoy scrolling through!

More info: Twitter

Image credits: abbygov

Image credits: abbygov

Also, parents should be careful about this. If children feel they are getting unequal amounts of your attention, discipline, and responsiveness, it can lead to sibling rivalry. It usually continues throughout childhood and can be very frustrating and stressful to the whole family.

According to Sara Laule, MD, the best thing parents can do to avoid this is not playing favorites. "Try not to compare your children to one another," she wrote. "For example, don't say things like, 'Your brother gets good grades in math—why can't you?'"

Enjoying each of your children’s individual talents and successes is important as well, however, it should not get in the way of them forming a team. "Set your kids up to cooperate rather than compete. For example, have them race the clock to pick up toys, instead of racing each other."

#3

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Batty
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am in this picture & I do not like it. Being the oldest sucks balls.

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#5

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KaPOW
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A lot of the time I think parents learn from their bad decisions next time round, perhaps they realised forcing you into picking the harder subjects clearly didn't make you happy and they are trying not to do the same with your brother?

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#9

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Tenay Douglas
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

PREACH. Thats ALL my siblings say whenever I FINALLY get something of my own

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AV7
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She was most likly already dead inside after the vodka incident.

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Olga Posedaru
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You must've gotten a pretty awesome tattoo if you changed your mom's mind about them :)

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Abby
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same. If I want a friend over, I have to clean up the whole house by myself. If my younger brother wants a friend over, I have to help him clean the house and he doesn't help at all

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Helena R
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This resonates with me, no matter how nasty my sibling is to anyone it was always their/my fault. I'm the older bad one. In their twenties now and they still live/scrounge off her but I'm still the nasty ungrateful one

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Helenium
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeh been there grounded from being at college too long was 18 , the only time i was grounded ever

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#22

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Shawn
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

First kids are just for practice and getting the screw ups outta the way

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Martha Meyer
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How does someone who is legally an adult let their parents dictate them a curfew and rules about drinking?

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beloved
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mom did the same thing to me and said I'd never get a job or amount to anything...unbeknownst to me, a few years later I came to visit and accidentally happened upon her and my step-dads weed stash. Double standard. Now, my 18 yr old daughter moved in with them....they said "no smoking at our house" so when my step-dad found her stash, he stole it, smoked it and lied about it. Then bought weed from her bf. Idiots....

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Heidi Geary
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok but....kick her out? In 8th grade? Maybe I'm lazy but sometimes I forget to do my homework and my Mum usually just asks me a bunch of questions such as 'What was stopping you from doing it?' or 'Do we need to do anything to help you be more responsible?'

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Note: this post originally had 42 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.