One Last Semester with Your Older Sib at Home

Sparkler SHOELACEx3 is a sophomore and her sister's a senior. They get along great, but no siblings are completely immune to occasional shouting matches, hair-pulling and stuff-stealing. (Right?) —SparkNotes editors

As the semester comes to a close, many of us are reminded that our older sib is graduating in June, and that leaves just one more semester to have him/her around. A typical first reaction to getting rid of your sister or brother is "Yay! One less person to annoy me!" But is it truly better to be the only child? To help, I've listed the pros and cons of being the only kid left at home:

Pros:

1. You get all the stuff he/she leaves behind
If you've ever seen any dorm rooms, you know they're not too spacious. (If you've never seen one, think of your room, cut it in half, then in cut it in half again.) With limited closet space, your older brother/sister will be forced to leave large amounts of stuff at home, ready to be used by you. Gone are the days when your sister would barge in your room at 6 a.m. and demand for her necklace back, forcing you to explain that you left it in the locker room with no chance of return (I speak from experience).

2. It's all about you
Growing up with a brother or sister, you have learned to share. Now that he/she is out of the picture, it's all about you! Your parents will probably give your sibling a meager budget, much less than what he/she spent at home. With all that extra money lying around, your parents won't have anything to do but spend on your needs. So get started on that wish list extra early and sit back, relax, and take in the gifts.

3. The quiet
Soon, you will realize how much noise your sister/brother made. Whether it was the obnoxious punk music that shook the walls, or just the non-stop complaining, it will all end. Suddenly, it will be a lot easier to concentrate, so why not try new things? Maybe you could get ahead on schoolwork, or connect with your inner ninja and perfect that roundhouse kick. Whatever it is, having trouble concentrating will be a thing of the past.

Cons:

1. No more distractions
With another young troublemaker in the house, your C in math class went unnoticed next to your older sister/brother's C because she/he had to worry about college applications. While your parents are screaming about college, you could casually slink into your room and make your getaway. But, without this, be prepared to kiss your friends goodbye, because "You're grounded!"  This leads me to the next con...

2. Nobody to blame it on
Whenever you or your sister/brother got in trouble, a simple solution was to blame it on the other one. Now, when your mom comes downstairs to find her priceless, one-of-a-kind, handmade vase smashed into a million pieces and you standing in the middle of the room with a giant baseball bat, the outcome isn't going to be pretty. Your only choices are to a) fall to your knees and beg your mother not to bite your head off or b) blame it on a small army of aliens that looked like like a combination of billy goats and chimpanzees who came in, destroyed the vase, and ran out without leaving a shred of evidence. (Hey, anything's possible.)

3. It's going to get lonely
Like it or not, you have grown extremely accustomed to your sibling. One day you will be practicing your ninja moves all alone in your room and you will think this horrible thought: "I miss her/him!" Hanging out with your parents all day and playing Boggle for 3 hours straight can get tiresome after a couple of weeks, especially on vacations when you don't even have friends to escape to.

Related Post: Creepy Carnies and Green Stuff in the Sink: To Miss, or Not to Miss?

Any other Sparklers going through the same thing? Wanna write for SparkLife? We're OD-ing on Christmas posts over here, but please send your non-Santa-ish posts to contribute@sparknotes.com for consideration!