Siblings

There’s a lot more to having a sibling than one would think. Specifically, for me, seven of them. Although there are lots of feuds from time to time, siblings have to rely on each other. If it’s helping you with your homework, cheering you up, or just leaving your door open every time they leave your room, siblings have got your back…most of the time. My friend is an only child, so when I go to his house, I notice the big differences between big family life compared to only child life, including the way the family works, what they do, and just the space in general. There are some similarities if you look at it from a glance, but the more time I spend in that family environment, the more I notice the difference.

At my friend’s house, he doesn’t really get paid an allowance for his chores, he simply does chores when he is told. At my house, we have a system. Before we have any time on screens, we have to do our chores, which can be sweeping, washing dishes, vacuuming, taking out the trash, and recycling. On Saturdays, we have to clean our room in order to be able to be on screens.

That’s another thing that’s different. My friend has a lot of time on screens, and his own consoles, while screen time is limited for my family because there are only so many electronics to go around. In our house, thirty minutes of screen time on games that are single-player, and thirty minutes of screen time on games that are multiplayer per day is allowed, while at my friend’s house, he has a near unlimited amount of time.

The community in my family is tight, and normally, my mom wants to know where I am at all times, while at my friend's house, he can normally roam about and his parents just need him to be with them at meals and when they have a task for him.

In my family, we do a lot of things together, and there is normally always at least one adult at my house at all times. We have a routine for the week. There are no electronics on the weekdays. Extracurricular activities and after-school activities are normally all attended. Some of these include marching band, Boy Scouts, Praise Band, and music lessons.

On Sundays, it is mandatory that every child has to attend church at some time in the day, and if they fail to do so, they have to watch it online. Meanwhile, my friend only goes to church when his parents go.

I have seen that parents that have more than one child are generally stricter than parents who have one child because it is in a kid’s true nature to tend to want everything the people around them have. So, parents that have to deal with more than one adolescent tend to limit the number of privileges they have.

If you’re housing more than three people, your humble abode needs to be a bit bigger, and sharing rooms tends to become a hot topic in the household. Since there are now eleven people living in our house, including eight children, not everyone can have their own room. Because there are five boys, I share a room with the second youngest, Max. Our room is slightly cluttered, and compared to my friend’s room, it’s tiny. My friend has a pretty big house, about the size of ours, and when you don’t have to care for eleven people, you can have space for a basement that’s not all storage, or a lady's room. Maybe you might even have space for the biggest luxury of all, your own room. Since my friend’s house has a lot of extra space, he gets most of the basement to himself, which includes a couch, a flatscreen tv, an air hockey table, and even a corner devoted to legos. While we do have many of these things, they’re not all for one child only.

In conclusion, having siblings can be rough and crowded, but you learn to love it. Every minute I spend with my family makes me realize more that it’s not all that bad to have someone to joke around with all the time, or it’s not all that bad to get annoyed from time to time. In the end, it all counts. My friend may have more things than me or more space, but having siblings can be better than having your own room. Although I may envy my friend, I get to spend more time with people, and that’s what counts in the end.