Believe it or not, being the youngest child in your family is not the worst thing in the world, even though it may feel like that. Many kids begin to think as their older siblings are growing up and leaving home that its going to be horrible the only child left at home. Thoughts of being stuck in the home with their is horrifying. From my experience all of these negative thoughts made me depressed for awhile until I started seeing the positive side of being the youngest child. Now to all of you younger siblings out there start considering the fact that there are many positive things and events like, you get more attention from your parents, more things that you want, new brothers or sisters, and nieces and nephews.

To start off, I remember when my oldest brother began dating his then girlfriend and I began thinking of the possibility that he might get married. Might I just say that I thought I would die because he and I were very close, well he did get married, and I survived. Then a few years later my only other brother began dating and he soon got married. I couldn’t imagine life alone without them, everyday I sank into depression until I began to see the upside of being the only child left at home.

But, all of the sudden my parents had more time for me and it seemed that when I asked for something I was more likely to get it. I remember Christmas 2009 my whole family was together and everyone had opened all of their presents. I was very disappointed because I had asked for a laptop that year but at the end of the opening frenzy there was no laptop. Just as I was about to go to my room with all my new things my mom said, “ Hey Natalie what is that way at the back of the tree?” I opened the last present and there it was, my new laptop. My brothers never got anything like that for Christmas before and I think they were a little sad that they were not the youngest at that moment. You see being the only child left at home is not so bad because your parents have more money. So I strongly suggest you start thinking of this event as a positive experience.

Another huge advantage that you might want to think about is when your siblings leave home and get married you gain new brothers or sisters that you never had before. In my case I gained two sisters that I never would have had. I get to do things with them that I never got to do with my brothers. They take me shopping and do fun girl stuff with me, I love hanging out with them! Once my sister-in-law Amanda wanted to make a special day for me and it was really awesome. I remember a couple of months ago my sister-in-law Amanda called me really early in the morning and wanted to do a sister day. Of course I said yes. We took off at about ten and our first stop was the mall we had a delicious mocha at Starbucks then started shopping. We shopped around for about three hours and I got a couple shirts from Zumies. At about one we went and had lunch at Red Robin, Amanda and I both ordered the Whiskey River BBQ burger as always the burgers were awesome. To finish our day she took me to down town Vancouver to Ice Creme Renascence. We shared the delicious Brownie Sundae, it was the perfect ending to a perfect day! This is something I would have never got to do with my brothers.

You also might want to consider the fact that if you are a baby lover like I am sooner or later along comes awesome nieces and nephews. With me it was more sooner then later. I have two beautiful nieces, an adorable nephew, and another little nephew on the way. I enjoy so much when they come over to stay with my parents and me. The older they get the more fun they are and I love playing with them. They do and say the cutest thing and it is so fun watching them grow and learn. Not long ago my little nephew Carter who is 1 1/2 and not allowed to have much sugar got into a plate of cookies on the table. As soon as he knew he was caught he took off running with the cutest look on his face while shoving the cookie in his mouth as fast as he could.It was so funny that I laughed and laughed. These little people have been such a huge blessing to me and have brought me so much joy. I love being able to play with them and when I don’t see them for awhile I go crazy missing them!

As you can see, there is more positive than negative that comes out of being the youngest so begin to have a positive attitude about it now. As the youngest child you gain so much more good then bad like; more attention and more of the things you want, new siblings, and some seriously cute nephews and nieces. More attention from your parents means more time spent with your parents, which is awesome. Also being the only child at home means that you are the only one that your parents have to spend money on so you will get a lot more things. Getting new siblings is a great thing especially if you never had a brother or sister and always wanted one. Even if you don’t like babies once you get nieces and nephews you will surely change your mind. So if you’re feeling down about being the youngest keep your chin up because there really are benefits to being the baby of the bunch!