My brother is kind of perfect when it comes to school. He’s a great athlete, has a 4.0 GPA and doesn’t get into trouble. Yet, he’s jealous when it comes to me. I don’t play sports, I haven’t always had the best grades and I don’t really do much since I’ve graduated early. Now, when it comes to things at home, he feels I’m the favorite because I get praise for keeping up with the house and whatnot and I get rewarded for it. Because there’s 7 of us in 1 household, it gets dirty fast and we run low on things often. Since I don’t usually have anything going on besides work, I try and tidy up when I notice the house getting messy or get the essentials like bread and milk or tissue when I notice we’re low. I do this on my own time so my parents don’t have to worry about it since they work so much. They praise me for being thoughtful and doing chores and whatnot without being asked. My brother doesn’t like this.
The reason he doesn’t like it is because while he has this perfect appearance at school, at home he’s lazy, arrogant and ungrateful and he often gets scolded for his behavior. He believes that because he’s so perfect at school, he deserves to be treated and seen as a perfect child at home despite his terrible behavior at home. He’s entitled in my eyes. And to make things worse he gets his praise when he does something good in school, specifically sports, but he lets it go to his head. I really don’t get why he hates me when he’s better than me and is talented in my eyes. I care about him a lot but it’s just disheartening that he seems to hate me because while I’m nowhere near perfect, I try to help out where I can.
TL;DR: My brother seems to hate me because he feels entitled to being praised and treated as a perfect child because of his great academic/sports achievements but at home he’s a nightmare. I on the other hand am the exact opposite and I get more praise for it.
1 comment
As an older brother, I think it is great if we are able to elevate our siblings to being a better version of themselves. If you feel perhaps that he is longing for some of that attention at home but is unable to get so and in turn becomes this other person, have you tried giving him the opportunity to show your parents that he too can be a responsible child at home by involving him in the chores that you do? That might be a start.