Being The First Born
Being a first born in the family comes with a great responsibility. I don't know about the Western world but this is true for Africans.
In an African settings, the first born chunk the larger part of the responsibility.
Growing up, the first born is always reminded of his/her responsibility. The parent always tell him/her 'don't you know you are the eldest'?
The first born is always cautioned to lead by example. If others do something wrong, they are sometimes mildly chastised but the eldest is always beaten or strictly scolded to know the huge responsibility that lies ahead.
In religion, the first born is believed to carry a 'curse' that must be broken. Just like Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac before God told him to use goat.
First born is always asked to be brought to religious gathering to be prayed for. If you are a Christian, you would have seen where all first born were brought out and prayed for.
Away from religion, the Africans believe that the first born, if trained properly and graduated or fully learned a skill, will take off the loads of training the younger ones from the parents.
As the parents grow old, they relax their responsibilities. If the younger ones come to them for money, they tell them to meat their sister/brother.
While this might not be true for all in terms of finance, it is true when the younger ones have any issue, they refer them to their sister/brother.
On every occasion, the first born shoulder higher responsibility.
We practice money contribution whenever we want to do anything in the family. A typical parent birthday is planned by children. They pay for food, canopies, chairs, hall and all.
The eldest pay higher than the rest because he/she is seen as the leader after the parents.
So a typical first born in Africa normally start being responsible for his/her younger ones immediately he/she starts working. When a first born marries, the task become even higher with his/her immediate family to cater for.
But mostly, a woman who marries first born of a family knows her husband has huge responsibility outside their home.
A man who marries a first born daughter knows he marries a woman who will go back and forth to her parent home to cater for their need.
Perhaps, those of us who are not first born are somehow 'lucky' if i can use the word. But i guess first born feel proud to be the leader of the home despite the huge responsibility on their shoulders. As a 'title', it comes with respect. Your younger ones either love or feared you because they know you are next after their parents.
With a good relationship with younger ones, a first born does less job in trying to put things in order as he/she knows virtually everything about his/her younger ones.
It is a huge responsibility and one which i am happy is not on my shoulder because i am not the first born! Lols!
However, i say kudos to all the first born out there who are always looking after us. Calling us to make sure we are fine. They are our shoulders to cry on. Once our parent offend us, we go to them and they solve the matter for us.
From this place, i say thank you for being there for all your younger ones!!!!!
Thanks for your time.