Sibling Opposites

[Laddy]

I have two sisters and they're the exact opposite of me.

That's all I go into.

[Heath]

My sister and I really are chalk and cheese.

My sister and I have very little in common. Apart from similar genes and an interest in football, I can't really point to any similarities in interests or personality. We've never really gotten on, which I think partly stems from that.

[Fujiko]

They say siblings are the polar opposite of yourself. My sister wears Abercrombie, is part of the cheerleading squad, thinks ripped jeans are cool, a poor student, talks like a valley girl, wants to date at the age of 12, and wears makeup.

When I was 12 I wouldn't even dream of doing any of these things, and now that I'm 22, I still don't do most it. Even though we have a huge age gap, it's still amazing to me how different she is.

Do you have any siblings? If so, are they extremely different from you? If you're an older child, do your parents go easier on the young one(s)?

I totally wanted to do cheerleading and wear makeup and have a boyfriend when I was around that age. But my parents kept me away from it. Which was sometimes for my own good cause 12 is really young imo. Also my sister isn't the polar opposite, but she's very different to me.

Parents always go easier on the younger ones! It doesn't matter what culture/society/whatever you're from imho; I think one of the reasons might be that they saw what whatever "strict" rules they had for their firstborn did to the child, that they feel they must go for a different, more laid back attitude toward the younger ones. Or they're just inexperienced with the first one so it's easier to go easy on the second born etc. OR they're just lazy to put in the effort after the first or second child. Idk really...

I mean, at the same time, the firstborn is always the favourite. I have a brother that is older than me, and he has def always gotten more attention and care, and dare I say love, from my mother than I did. He still does, and she just won't admit it, but it's true. He's the firstborn. ;______; My dad loves us all the same though! That's how it appears to me anyway.

Anyway, my parents were way stricter when it came to my elder brother and I than they were when it came to my younger sis and bro.

All of the above, except for the first paragraph, is the case with all of my friends that have siblings.

[fire_of_avalon]

My sister and I are very similar in a lot of ways. We have similar interests and hobbies, similar sense of humor. We're both compassionate, empathic, and very protective. We're different in a lot of ways too. I'm much more responsible than she is, she is more artistic and creative. I'm nosier and she's more apt to make friends. I'm a peacemaker and she's... well she necessitates a peacemaker. xD

[Shiny]

I think what they say is that a person's personality is affected by in which order children are born. We consider the eldest the leader, the youngest the spoiled baby, the middle one more artistic, et cetera. I am sure others can provide other common ideas.

Once you have more than one sibling, it is hard to imagine all of them, with their varied personalities, to be opposites of little old you.

True, child order is said to effect a person's personality. However, it is also said that whatever personality the oldest child has, the younger child will more than often have the exact opposite of that. For instance, if the older child is a good student, but a recluse, the younger child could be outgoing, but a horrible student.

I don't quite know if this is a deliberate choice or not, but I do know that my sister will often say, "She's not me" to my dad whenever he gets on her about why she isn't doing this or that. It could also be because of my age, she wants to do all the things that I'm doing now. Like she feels left out. That, or it's true that every decade kids get "faster". But yeah, totally agree with the fact that the youngest always gets it easier especially if it's the third or fourth, etc. because parents just get lazy. Parental laziness is a whole other thread topic though.

[Jessweeee♪]

I have a little brother and my parents adopted three of my younger cousins. My brother and I are identical when it comes down to interests and hobbies, very similar in appearance, and our personalities are also very similar. But we are total opposites in how we deal with conflict. I just kind of ignore stuff until it goes away and he goes out fists swinging (usually figurative verbal foot-in-your-mouth type fists). Our parents raised us both the same way but he complains that they were easier on me. The truth is I know how to pick my battles and he loves debates. Throw a tantrum about not getting to pick my own elective class for my last year of middle school, not about the groceries. Duh doy.

[Night Fury]

Yeah me and my sister are so different. She's blonde, really tall, athletic and does really well at vocational stuff...

And I'm short, brunette, not very athletic and really academic.

In terms of interests we're different too, she was definitely swayed more by peer pressure than I was, wanted all the cool 'in' things all the time, she's more of a 'chav' and I guess I'm a 'nerd'.

I hate her, but I'm the only one that's allowed to hate her. Anyone who messes with my sister has to deal with me >.>

[milliegoesbeep]

I have two sisters and a brother.

My brother whom is older and I are like chalk and cheese; i'm a very reserved and shy individual whereas he is rather outward. We have almost completely opposite opinions about most topics; we rarely speak to each other now that we live on our own.

My younger sister is very bratty. My mother favours her and it's quite evident that she lets her get away with murder. She is waited on by hand and foot, something my brother and I would never have experienced.

In regards to those siblings, my brother and sister are very alike and share many traits, taste and quirks. My other sister on my dad's side, however, is very similar to me. Just a more confident and extroverted me xD

[Aerith's Knight]

Excluding my older sister, I have two brothers. An older one, and a younger one.

My older brother is the stereotypical jock, plays lots of sports and only really plays CoD.
My younger brother is a hardcore MMO gamer and anime fan. Dude never leaves the PC room at my parents place.

I am somewhere in between. I play a lot of games, but am neither a CoD fan, and I hate MMO's. I've played every sport available in the area, but always between 6 months and 3 years.

It's funny, you have the whole range of extremes, while I'm the mediator. I guess maybe the differences in it are simply because of the generation.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I'm an only child, but I've observed a lot of that behavior in my friends and their siblings.

Sometimes it results in very bitter relationships, and other times it means they have a close relationship where their differences compliment each other. Just depends.

[Jiro]

My brother is brutish, has little education, small job prospects, terrible choice in friends, no issues making them, drug addictions, is frivolous with money, has ferocious anger management problems, cannot bite his tongue, shows disrespect to people he really ought not to, is aggressive and violent, cannot admit to being wrong, relies on everybody else to do things for him (mostly because if he tries to do them he ends up becoming frustrated and abuses the other person)... Yeah that will do for now.

[Iceglow]

ONLY CHILD FTW

THAT JUST MEANT YOU WERE A LONELY BABY!

Aside from pointing out the flaws with Sam's arguments:

My elder brother is 15 years older than me, but we tend to have similar humours. I find it funny though that my brother had by my age at least 2 of his 3 sons and had just gotten married to his childhood sweetheart.

My sister is closer to my age with an 18 month age gap between us. She has 4 children by 3 different guys, she has little to no work history having only been a trainee hair-stylist when she decided to give up work to become a mother. She lives on benefits and at home with my mother. Meanwhile I have major issues with commitment in any prolonged relationship, no children (that I am aware of) and work my arse off trying to get myself promoted and finding something better in regards to work. My sister has no education to speak of and whilst I didn't go on to university because I decided against getting myself in debt of 30grand for a piece of paper (which in today's society is about all a degree is) at the age of 18 I still have more education than most of my family put together. I am however the child who had an issue with drugs when to my knowledge whilst my sister has a habit of dating drug users she has never had issues with doing drugs, sure she smoked a little pot when younger but I smoked a lot of pot and did a lot more harder stuff too it was this in part which also helped form my decisions not to go to university at the time, I needed to sort my life out and get away from the people influencing me to do drugs.

Overall am I the polar opposite of my siblings? I'd say I'm different but thats about it.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

When I tell people I'm an only child, I like to tell them it's because my parents learned their lesson the first time.

[Mirage]

My younger siblings (I have three) all have something that is similar to me, along with a lot of stuff that isn't.

We're all pretty good with technology, all of us like the final fantasies (thanks to me!), although some of them grew out of it while I and one more did not. We all kind of enjoy the same kind of humor and other themes in movies and tv shows as well. We're also all tall as smurf. I'm the oldest of us all and I'm actually the shortest, at 194 cm.

[Denmark]

My brother is 5 years older than me so I think he had a reasonable level of influence in how I turned out. We're different in smallish ways but not anywhere near "polar opposites".