siblings

All younger siblings experience it, though it might be called a different name. It’s possible that the phenomena is particularly pronounced when one has multiple older brothers and/or sisters.

Sometimes it’s a good thing. Sometimes it’s not.

Luckily for my children, having an older sister blaze the trail for them works well in their favor. Why? Because she’s practically perfect in every way. (Exaggerating only slightly).

One might assume that having an older sister who sets such a high standard might actually be detrimental. That it might create disappointment in teachers when the younger sibling fails to measure up to said high standard.

Not so, friends. If you are lucky enough to be Anna’s younger sister, her good grades and exceptional behavior actually have residual effects. Effects that bestow long-lasting favor upon the younger sibling.

Lily was just telling me that most of her straight-A student friends got a B in a particular class taught by a notoriously difficult teacher at her school. What did Lily get? An “A” of course. Not by her own merits, she says. It was the “Anna Effect”.

It’s so bad (or good, depending on how you look at it) that when I went to Parent-Teacher conferences on behalf of Lily, her math teacher first asked about Anna before moving on to discuss Lily’s performance.

Lily doesn’t mind, because, as she puts it, her grade is boosted by being Anna’s younger sister. She even credits a passing grade on an assignment on which she did nothing right with the teacher simply liking her. Why does he like her? Because of Anna, of course.

I, too, had an older sibling. Fortunately, I neither felt I had to rise to a standard of perfection set by him, nor did I benefit academically from his achievements in school.

In fact, the “Eric effect” looked more like this:

Kid at school: “You’re Eric’s sister, right?”

Me: “Yeah, but most people call me Susie.”

What Eric lacked in academic discipline (smart though he is), he more than made up for in social status. Though, admittedly, a fair share of females attempted to befriend me in order to get their claws on my brother, for the most part I benefited from an expanded social circle thanks to “The Eric Effect”.

Sure, oldest children are more successful, statistically speaking. But younger siblings don’t have to work as hard. We have our older counterparts to thank for that. But then…that’s probably why they’re more successful, right? Everything on their own merits.

Eh, I’d still rather be a 2nd child. I have a feeling Lily feels the exact same way.