Sibling: The Most Influential Person In One's Identity

Title When a person is born he or she given a name, a gender, a race, a hight and weight. Within just the first few hours of life, a person is given his or her identity. A family is there for their child from the day they are born to teach us fundamentals of life such as language, religion, beliefs, morals, customs, and expectations. Parents raise us by these values and pass down what they have learned from the generation before them. Of course one looks up to his or her parents but parents are not the only ones who contribute to ones upbringing. Older siblings take the role as the most influential person in ones life. A sibling is there from birth and is in our lives most likely longer than our parents will be. Outside peers are the ones …show more content…
About 80% of Americans have at least one sibling. Not only do we look up to older siblings but in a majority of the timewe try to be like them. Older siblings are not only seen in a position of power by the younger brother or sister but they also have a better level of understanding of what it is like growing up in the same environment and generation. Our parents may know what it is like to be young and have been through it all before, but a common issue such as bullying is not the same as it was 20 to 30 years ago as it is now. That is when we turn to the older sibling for advise. Parents raise the first child on their own and that child now serves as a role model for their future siblings. Older siblings are like the second parents, helping raise their younger …show more content…
Such as sports and after school activities or even addictions. When exposed to this the younger sibling can pick it up and follow in their footsteps. If an older sibling has a bad drug problem, this can either effect a person by them doing the same thing and mimicking their older sibling or learning from the negative outcomes and vowing never to do drugs. Associate professor of human development and family studies at the UCalifornia-Davis says "If you have a sibling who is participating in those types of activities, then you 're at higher risk for participating yourself (Lyon). One may even try to do the complete opposite just to be different. Sometimes we may go as far as trying to be the opposite of our sibling even if that means we are no longer staying true to ourselves. Has the same amount of success as family, whether that be from the parents raising or looking up to older siblings as role