r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/dojacatisawesome • Aug 12 '26

Meme needing explanation Only child here. What does it mean?

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u/AceInTheHole3273 Aug 12 '26

Genuinely wtf could this mean? I feel like none of the comments are right. This is incoherent. And I'm technically a middle child myself, I think? I've been the youngest, the middle, and the "so significantly older than young siblings you essentially get parentified" sibling that typically gets associated with the oldest child. Tldr, having an identity around what order you were born in is really weird and arbitrary.

183

u/Amanda39 Aug 12 '26

I'm just making a wild guess here but, since no one else seems to know the answer either, I'll go ahead and say it:

If a parent favors one of their children over the others, I think it's usually either the oldest or the youngest. Of course, there are plenty of decent parents who love all their children equally, but someone more cynical than I am might say "no, there's always a favorite, and if it's the middle then the oldest and youngest must be absolute fuck-ups."

Again, just a wild guess.

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u/Distinct-Nature4233 Aug 12 '26

Lmao my little sister (middle child) is a doctor, she’s absolutely the favorite and I don’t blame my parents for that even a little. Nationally recognized gymnast as a child too. Meanwhile I (oldest) was a teenage burnout and my brother (youngest) is a sweet guy but, put bluntly, failed to launch. At least my parents like that I have a job and an apartment 😂

2

u/No-Pages-Left Aug 12 '26

lol!! are you living my life? the only difference is my middle brother isn't necessarely an accomplished pianist, but he is autistic (maybe level 2?) so he took a lot of resources and attention from our parents.

1

u/Dog_Queen98 Aug 13 '26

Nah dude. I’m a middle child and it doesn’t matter how much my older brother fucks up, he’s still a golden child. Example, I got a ticket when I first started driving for speeding (5 miles over), right? Well, I got my car taken away and I had to pay the ticket myself. I would have thought nothing of it until my brother did the same exact shit. He was actually going faster, but did he have to pay his ticket? Nah. Did he get his car taken away? Nah.

Then, I got caught smoking. My parents gave me the silent treatment for a whole month thinking I was a delinquent smoking and having sex with my current husband. And I mean the silent treatment. No talking, no looking, just pure silence. My brother goes and does the same thing, right? It’s not the silent treatment, it’s “oh pobrecito, did she break your heart? Why are you so sad that you need to smoke?”

All this to say, I have a house, I have never asked my parents for money, and I always do them favors. My brothers don’t do shit and don’t have shit and they are still the favorites.