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There’s an abundance of scientific research made on how having siblings affects our lives. Sometimes best friends, sometimes rivals, they are a quintessential part of our lives and there’s not much we can do about them.

No wonder, after many years without contact, people feel an urge to reconnect with their brothers and sisters as no matter what, they’re still the closest people they have.

So when someone posed a question “What’s something that people without siblings will never understand?” it surely hit a soft spot for many. Thousands of people started sharing their experiences and it clearly seems like life with siblings is full of weirdly particular quirks that they feel like only they can get.

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#1

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones You don't apologize after a fight, you just start talking to them again

kapojinha , Marty O’Neill Report

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To find out more about the complex workings of sibling relationships and in what ways they influence our lives, Bored Panda reached out to Helen Marlo, a licensed clinical psychologist and Jungian Psychoanalyst, certified through the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. Helen is also a tenured Professor of Clinical Psychology at Notre Dame de Namur University where she is the Department Chair.

“Research, as well as my professional and personal experience, confirms that sibling relationships exert a powerful influence on one’s life and development,” Helen told us. “So, the presence or absence of siblings is significant in shaping one’s experience although one is not necessarily better or worse. They are different.”

Helen explained that while we know siblings are influential, the effect of growing up with a sibling is not linear because the sibling relationship is complex. “Some siblings become best friends while others are arch enemies. Some people are fulfilled by having siblings while others find fulfillment as only children. Their life experiences, however, are different,” the clinical psychologist explained.

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#2

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Why it's a bad idea to put a light switch OUTSIDE the bathroom door

kuro-oruk , Isabella and Zsa Fischer Report

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DUN DUN (she/her)
DUN DUN (she/her)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They'll add the "OoooOoooooooOoo" sounds and you have trauma for lifetime

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#3

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones "Please don't tell mum! Look, you can hit me back!"

HarpyFA , bady abbas Report

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DUN DUN (she/her)
DUN DUN (she/her)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And the amount of fear, anxiety, dread, waiting for them to accept the offer before mom hears the cries 😭

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#4

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones The fact that as the oldest sibling you may give the younger siblings s**t. But nobody else is allowed to give them s**t.

You also love them more than they could ever know.

beetleeagle667 , Limor Zellermayer Report

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Moreover, Helen argues that findings that generalize about siblings can be misleading. “For example, findings on the influence of birth order or recent research asserting that sibling relationships are more important than parent relationships. Often, these findings do not also acknowledge the influence of other important variables, including psychological, family, systemic, developmental, environmental, and cultural factors that mediate the influence of the sibling relationship,” she said.

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Helen continued by saying that this explains why such findings do not fit for many people. “Take sibling conflict. It is not necessarily negative. Parental warmth during sibling conflict, for example, influences if the sibling conflict leads to healthy rather than divisive sibling relationships. It can help prepare one to develop problem solving and negotiation skills.”
#5

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Having someone who is both an accomplice and a rival

zombiebane , Annie Spratt Report

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#6

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones “Dude come here”

“Why?”

“I wanna show you something”

“No, you’re gonna hit me”

cheese-blanket , Anna Shvets Report

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DUN DUN (she/her)
DUN DUN (she/her)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

B- "QUICK! QUICK! COME HERE YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!! YOU'RE GOING TO MISS IT!! QUIIICK, YOU PIG" Me (running at a speed I've never known myself to achieve): WHAT!? WHERE!!? B- (holding a mirror infront of my face) "Oh lookie, a real life DUMBASS"

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#7

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Hating someone who is literally just sitting in the same room as you and isn't doing anything, just their presence is annoying

reddit , Andrew Seaman Report

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DUN DUN (she/her)
DUN DUN (she/her)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's funny when you're in third person, watching two siblings fight. I've seen my cousins throw slippers, and utensils at each other for a KitKat piece. That was the highlight of my day!

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The clinical psychologist also noted that “while generalizations do not fit for many sibling relationships, growing up with siblings generally is accompanied by having a stronger sense of being part of a family and with feeling less alienated and alone.”

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Helen argues that siblings have a daily influence in our lives. “Therefore, [siblings] can be associated with many strong emotional memories including sharing together in the traditions, joys, secrets, and challenges in family life,” she explained. What’s interesting is that although siblings encounter the same experiences, they experience them in their own unique way and these can be sources of challenge and connection.
#8

The soul crushing grief when one passes away.

Also the connection to another human being that can validate your experiences. Having someone who can say, "yes, that really happened.".

My younger sister passes suddenly about three years ago. I have a younger brother as well and we were all able to call each other when we had nightmares to figure out if it was a memory or a dream. We were each other's PTSD support group.

My brother is currently living with and caring for our elderly father who was our tormentor for decades. I could not love or appreciate him more. I tried. I couldn't do it. He is still abusive and aggressive. When my brother gets overwhelmed, I am only a phone call away, to listen, validate and support him. We are all each other has and I know that I will always have his back and vice versa. Siblings are as big a blessing later in life as they are imagined a curse when growing up.

Yinzer63 Report

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ZAPanda
ZAPanda
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

wow. Thanks for this personal note. Similar story here.

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#9

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Ownership of the TV remote was a matter of life or death

beerbellybegone , Annie Spratt Report

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Diya
Diya
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It has been mine for a record of 4 minutes thats the longest anyone has ever gone.

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#10

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones You may give your kidney but you will never give that tv remote

no000bmaster69 , Ketut Subiyanto Report

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River Webb
River Webb
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

well the tv remote is a matter of life or death, but kidney not so much

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According to Helen, another way having siblings may influence you is that starting one’s own family and having a child can feel more familiar, known and natural when one has siblings.

The clinical psychologist who grew up in a large family herself also said that there are a lot of things her fellow siblings fostered in her. “Personally, having siblings has fostered in me a sense of connection and security; empathy; acceptance; compromise; tolerance; an appreciation of diversity; and having a greater focus on and understanding of others,” she explained.
#11

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Making your sibling laugh so their cries are not credible

19you1 , Alex Green Report

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#12

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Having to hide your snacks because they'll be gone in seconds

feather_vs , Denny Müller Report

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Adam C
Adam C
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sister had Ice cream. Me :"Can I have a bite?" Seconds later.. "Adam eat my whole ice cream in 1 bite!!!".

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#13

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones The amount of blackmail you have on each other that creates a Cold War scenario

MrOreoMan101 , cottonbro Report

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Adele Xie
Adele Xie
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

my b: if u don't give me a piece of that kit kat i'm gonna tell mom that two months ago when we were on vacation you stole a soap bar and put it in your backpack and then you hid it under your pillow for three days then gave it to mom for mother's day then dropped it on the floor and then replaced the soap bar with a potato for a day until you pretended it was lost and then sliced it into pieces and hid it in your rain jacket!

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When asked what’s unique about sibling relationships, Helen said that they’re unique because “they share together, with one another, in one of life’s most important relationships, the parent relationship, for better and for worse.” It turns out that “sharing in this relationship can readily elicit complex, myriad feelings such as competition, jealousy, intimacy, inferiority, superiority, and resentment. Siblings face issues related to the sharing and division of parental resources both material and psychological.”

There are many more ways in which sibling relationships are unique, Helen argues. “Sibling relationships are unique because they occupy a distinct and different role relative to parents and other family members, even in cases when the sibling serves as a parent figure. Sibling relationships are unique because sibling roles are more fluid than the parental role and can include elements of being both family and friend.”

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#14

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones When your younger sibling is allowed to do things at his young age that you were not allowed to do.

For example :

He could go to bed whenever he wanted at the age of 12 when I was forbidden to go to bed past 10 PM at his age.

He got in trouble for worse s**t than me, but got punished less. (Wayyy less)

He got his phone earlier than me.

When he got bad grades at school, my parents scolded him for a few minutes then forgot about it. When I had bad grades, I would be punished (no computer/video games for a week, grounded for a week, etc..)

That was pretty infuriating.

(For instance, I'm 23 and he's 15)

Crystalide , Adrian Swancar Report

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Andrea Josipović
Andrea Josipović
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yesssss. I'm the oldest of 3 sisters and i'm still pissed and will never let it go. -.-

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#15

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Specifically for older siblings:

The wave of fear that shudders through you at the moment that your younger sibling breaks into tears within earshot of your parents because of something you did.

D**kcheese_McDoogles , Keira Burton Report

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Moolia
Moolia
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me: Maybe I don’t wanna play because of your rude attitude! My little bro: WAAAAH! (my name) is being meeean to meee

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#16

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Getting offered something by your parents, saying no, and then when you see them ask your sibling, you're like, 'Wait a minute, I want that.'

AmusedCoffee02 , Elina Fairytale Report

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Diya
Diya
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a part missing from this, it is only when the sibling says y- that you scream and say BUT I WANTED THAT! Then proceed to throw a big tantrum in public, then when you get the thing, not even use it because the satisfaction of stealing something is way better than the atual object you threw a tantrum for.

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Ultimately, siblings have a different function in the family than the parents. “For example, siblings support separation and independence from the parents and family; they share in a lived, joint history and experience of their family life, even if their experiences differ; they directly shape the experience of daily family life; they are uniquely able to help their siblings understand dimensions of their family life; and siblings help socialize their siblings in ways that parents cannot,” Helen concluded.
#17

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Having someone to complain about your parents to. I love my parents very much, but they are crazy sometimes

rwatkinsGA , Annie Spratt Report

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Auntriarch
Auntriarch
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This hits home, now that our parents are mid 80s. It doesn't feel disloyal to rant with someone who you know cares and loves them as much as you do

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#18

Having a completely different perspective on your childhood is interesting. I have a brother and a sister and their memory of the household when we were kids is completely different than mine.

HowWasItDetroit Report

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#19

Older sibling here. Getting in trouble for EVERYTHING.

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Stew
Stew
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If the younger sibling does something, the eldest gets scolded.

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#20

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Hand-me-down clothes:

Knowing that I would "inherit" my older brother's clothes, he'd take me shopping with him so we could together choose things he'd like and that I'd eventually enjoy wearing once they became mine.

Back2Bach , https://www.pexels.com/photo/folded-assorted-color-shirts-581087/ Report

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IzzieM
IzzieM
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am a lot younger than my sisters, they would keep items of clothing that they thought were really cool and it was like hitting milestones for me to grow into these items. I loved it!

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#21

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Idk if its just my siblings but they would come up to my door and just stand there. "What do you want", nothing just dead silence. And then they walk away with your door wide open

TheSpicyCabbage , Ksenia Chernaya Report

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Caro Caro
Caro Caro
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My youngest brother would lean into me and say " what ya doin'?". I would answer with "what does it look like, I'm reading a book". His response was always ... "I'm bored, lets play a game". Aaaaw

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#22

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Literally dehydrating yourself so you don't lose the prime seat that if you get up from, will be stolen within seconds

patheticgurl , Karolina Grabowska Report

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Jennifer Barrett
Jennifer Barrett
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

or risking a UTI because you didn't dehydrate yourself and you really need to pee but can't give up the spot

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#23

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones That’s it’s possible to love someone who you usually hate

EasternRayz , Elina Fairytale Report

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Diya
Diya
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought the kid in the pic was holding their middle finger up, and I'm like thats next level hate bro.

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#24

Siblings are the only people (mostly) around the same age you spent your entire childhood with, if you complain about the annoying habits of your parents, they will understand. And I can still call my brother "little brother" even though we're both in our late thirties and he's taller than I am

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Jiska Veldhuizen
Jiska Veldhuizen
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Haha yes! My brother is 28 and so much bigger than I am but he will always be my little brother.

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#25

"Look out your own window" - every car journey

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#26

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Only the powerful or fast get to take hot showers

demonardvark , Carson Masterson Report

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#27

How to love someone who's a total pain in the arse

damagedstar Report

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DUN DUN (she/her)
DUN DUN (she/her)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Love? What love? I will tear him limb to limb next time he tries to touch my hair

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#28

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones It's so satisfying finally being player one when you were player 2 for years

megaman0781 , EVG Kowalievska Report

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Judo Flipped By Nobody
Judo Flipped By Nobody
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

my brother banned me from being player one on the WiiU after i accidentally deleted everything we had done on Rayman

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#29

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Oldest gets the front seat. I am the eldest of 4 and had a monopoly on that front seat until we were all old enough to have our own cars

1HeyMattJ , Pavel Danilyuk Report

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Judo Flipped By Nobody
Judo Flipped By Nobody
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

we also did this in my family, and the youngest had to sit in the middle of the three seats in the backseat

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#30

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones "Mom said it's my turn to play the Xbox"

Imtherealwierdly , Szauer Jennifer K Report

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