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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.

#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

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

#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

#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

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

#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

#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

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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#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

#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

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

#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

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

#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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#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

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

#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.

confirmandverify2442 Report

#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

#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

#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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#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

#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

slimfastdieyoung Report

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Jiska Veldhuizen
Community Member
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.

Ria C.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah 2 out of my three little brothers are big men. But I still refer to them as my big little brother.

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Robert Trebor
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm 72. My older brother is 74. He won't hear me even now on things important to me that I would like to share. He's the only one who still calls me Bob. I switched to Robert in 1978.

Kristin Ingersoll
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Two HUGE "little bruddahs" - They will always be my favorite people on Earth.

Parthania Dawson
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yep, my little brother turned 50 this year and has been taller than be since we were in school

Teresa Taylor
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My sister will tease me about getting older on my birthday (which doesn't bother me at all). She's the one with aging issues. So I always remind her that no matter how old I get, she will always be older.

KiwiBubbles
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My little brother recently surpassed me in height and, now more than ever, I emphasize (teasingly) that he is smol. Baby. Young baby child smol tiny. It only annoys him a little bit lollll I think he gets how weird it is for me

cute ghost person
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Every time I say "this is my little brother" my little brother is like, "IM taller, I'm not little."

zovjraar me
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

both my younger siblings are taller than i am- but i'm still the boss!

Kai David
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still call my baby brother little brother. We were 45 minutes apart and compared to my 6 5, he is 7 1 and makes me look like a twink when standing next to him. Nothing annoys him more when I call him my little frazelspritz.

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#25

"Look out your own window" - every car journey

classiccarmex Report

#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

#27

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

damagedstar Report

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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

#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

#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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#31

The invisible line down the exact middle of the back seat of the car.

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#32

Having to sprint to the bathroom after saying something mean or throwing the last punch because it's the only room in the house that locks.

And then struggling to get the door closed behind you as they start beating and kicking it down like you are in some kind of psycho killer horror movie.

At that moment all care for anyone's safety goes out the window. But the relief you feel when you finally get that door closed is immense... until you inevitably have to open it...

anonymous_com_enter Report

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#33

The best part is how you have a lot of anger towards them for something they did, yet the next minute you are still willing to drop everything for them and carry on as nothing happened.

Being_grateful Report

#34

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones This is one younger siblings might not understand.

The moment you realize that your little brother or sister is their own person, and that they no longer idolize you as everything that they want to be.

He used to look up to me as the coolest guy in the world. I knew things he didn't, I could do things he couldn't, he would do any favor I asked him, he would even talk about me positively when I wasn't around. I played with him sometimes, but I also feel like I dismissed him, yelled at him, and fought with him too much. It wasn't abusive, but I know I've badly hurt him before, emotionally and physically.

Now I'm out of the house, and he's got his own high school life to deal with, and I'm rarely on his mind. Soon we'll both be adults, and he's essentially gonna become a peer akin to an "old buddy".

D**kcheese_McDoogles , Annie Spratt Report

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#35

“I’m not touching you”

jarpar12 Report

#36

If you’re the oldest sibling: seeing how much more lenient your parents become and how much more your younger siblings can get away with than you did.

prettyeyedgrl Report

#37

From a social perspective, I'm essentially an acquaintance of my sister but I'd still perish to save her life

bannedbutnew Report

#38

Having someone to talk to that 100% understands you as a person. Has the same humor, emotional responses. Someone you can be totally vulnerable and real with and never worry about judgment or their love flickering. My brother is my best friend, we've served as anchors for each other for decades and I love him unlike anyone else.

metajenn Report

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#39

The "I'm not in your room. I'm in the doorway" s**t

loolitsrandom Report

#40

When me and my brother were kids everything had to be equally shared. Especially food.

To the point where we put the glasses side by side to get exactly the same amount of juice for each one. I recall one time we counted the amount of Pringles chips and split them into two equal amounts. The crumbles and broken chips went to parents of course.

georgekychan Report

#41

The Little Brother Screech. It occurs when the inferior brother has realized that he has committed an impulsive, grave offense against the superior one...an offense that has crossed a line. And he realizes this just slightly too late, beyond the point at which anything can be changed. Having seen the flash of fury in your eyes, he now sees his life flash before his own. He knows he is about to suffer, deservedly so, and all he can do is scream in existential terror, because he is powerless in the face of the inevitable, and nothing--not even Mom--can save him.

Dahhhkness Report

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#42

That regularly insulting each other and flipping each other off is a sign of love. It's when we don't do that that something is wrong!

YoureNoGoodDuck Report

#43

Sharing. It's simple, but I've never met an only child who truly understands how to share.

E: I know there are plenty of people without siblings who are capable of sharing, but it's learned in a different way. Growing up, my friends and I had the constant threat of "it's your sister's turn with x" looming over us, even if the object, food, activity, etc., was entirely ours. Even now that I'm 25 I am still prepared daily for my sister to knock on my door and ask if there's a laptop charger she can borrow.

Absolute_Hype Report

#44

Feel that your mom loves your sibling more than you even if she's denying it

Catgirl14 Report

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#45

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones no one:

not even a single soul:

my brother: u wanna fight huh let's fight

datkumbayas**t , Timothy Eberly Report

#46

Having your parents call you your siblings name.

crash_nebula3005 Report

#47

If your mother doesn't have enough money to buy one for each one no one gets anything.

PedroFPardo Report

#48

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones All siblings have their own weird language and ways of communicating that no one else can possibly understand

twentyonerooms , Monika Balciuniene Report

#49

Eating things you don’t actually want at that moment because if you don’t have them now they’ll be gone and you’ll never get them. I call it defensive snacking

breadhead84 Report

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#50

The unfairness of waiting until you're old enough to get something you've wanted forever only to have your younger sibling also get one at 4 years younger.

I'm still not over getting a computer at 11 after asking for three years only to hear my parents say "you're not old enough," then my younger sister gets one not a week later at 7 years old.

Absolute_Hype Report

#51

Having to give stuff up to your younger sibling

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#52

Food tax.

Older sibling nice enough to warm up leftover pizza for you, but it comes with a HUGE bite taken out of it.

OutrageousThing Report

#53

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones The ever-changing alliances, is my brother on my side or my sister's side today?

beerbellybegone , Nathan Dumlao Report

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#54

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Having your sister, and her friends, dress you up in their clothes, put on makeup, and make you prance around the house to Britney Spears. That happened to everyone else, right?

notathrowawayoris , Thamires Teles Report

#55

That it is like a game of Survivor. Alliances, games, someone wins, someone is voted off the island

729baoht Report

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#56

As an older brother, you become overprotective of your siblings in certain situations. If I get a bad vibe on the guy my sister is interested in, I will put the fear of god in said person.

Destroyerpete95 Report

#57

One moment you guys are cool but then the next you are beating each other up

Faithz2255 Report

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#58

Parents trying to extract info about the others from you.

yourgoodplace Report

#59

Being a human remote control when your older sibling can't find the remote.

kpcloud Report

#60

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Being hit by your sister but being taught that you can't hit girls

J0uke , Ron Lach Report

#61

Trying to wrestle your older sibling

iiLyfeon Report

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#62

The differences in how each sibling is raised or treated by the parents

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#63

People Are Sharing The Things Those "Without Siblings Will Never Understand" And Here're 30 Of The Most Accurate Ones Having an older sibling come into your room without asking but you can't tell them to get out because they're several years older and won't listen to you, so you have to deal with them being in your room for no reason.

Deblebsgonnagetyou , Marta Wave Report

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#64

The exhilarating rush of that first time you call shotgun before your older sibling

StanzoBrandFedoras Report

#65

Getting REALLY good at ganging up on Mom to piss her off

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#66

A moment of quiet at home.

itzrajj Report

#67

Looking up to your big brother who's five years older. Especially when he was 16 and I was 11 I genuinely thought he was the coolest person on earth, Pretty sure he thought I was really annoying. I would always hang out in his room when I was bored. It was when I was around 16, 17ish and he was about 22 that we started to get along really well. Sort of the way we did before he hit puberty. We are mostly known as the crazy Scheibler brothers. Even our older sister always remarks on how kuku we sometimes behave. He is one of maybe two people I know with whom I can talk about everything while eating some sushi and downing some vodka.

Scheiblerfunk Report

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#68

Resenting your sibling who lives in the same city as your parent but isn't doing anything to help your ailing mother making you drive 3 hours each way weekly to make sure she doesn't starve or be mistreated.

differentiatedpans Report

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#69

Going to watch them play sports. Why does it seem that a 1-hour game takes a lifetime?

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#70

Having to share almost everything

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#71

closing that TV thing with your hands so your sibling can't change the channel you are currently watching

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#72

That if you don’t get enough food with your first serving, you probably won’t get seconds! Or you have to literally inhale your food.

On a random (lol) side note, I eat my food really quickly now and get very upset when people eat “my” food, even if there’s plenty of it.

RonnyTwoShoes Report

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#73

Spending an hour looking for that one shirt, pants whatever that would match your outfit PERFECTLY! Going to school with something else on

Only to come home to find your brother wearing that very shirt/pants you've been looking for.

And trying your ABSOLUTE best not to go after him

TheRealist157 Report

#74

Getting your a** beat by an older sibling and then offering each other tater tots to make it up

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#75

getting hit with various game console remotes. the worst one for me was a Wii remote with the Mario kart wheel attachment

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#76

Realizing you were probably the "plan A that didn't work out"

isleofthelost Report

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#77

no one says "sis" or "bro" to their siblings

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#78

Basing your career choices on your big siblings out of competitiveness for your parent's love, approval, and the power hierarchy

Kittycat_Cumbercatch Report