AdviceColumn

Family Advice

From anonymous:

Family Advice.

I just saw the little advertisement thing, and I've got a bit of an issue I was wondering if you could help me with. It's kind of hard for me to ask people for advice because I'm used to doing stuff solo, so let me know if I'm doing this whole asking-for-advice thing correctly. :P

I'm the oldest of three kids, and my two younger siblings seem to get a lot more attention then I do. They also both have issues with school, so I'm expected to be the smart one. But whenever I bring a decent grade home, it almost seems like nobody cares. It's written off and forgotten about in the blink of an eye. They care a heck of a lot more when I bring home a grade that my younger sisters would bring home on a good day.

Can you explain why they do this, if possible?

Answer:

Hey!

Thank you for asking this question. I'll try to help.

So first of all, I really know how you feel. I'm the middle child, but my brother and sister don't get grades as high as mine. I always bring home full, or good, grades, but now I don't even bother showing my parents because I know they don't care. Well, they do care, but I mean that they don't really look at my good grades. Sometimes, when I bring a bad grade home, from one of my weak subjects, my parents will yell at me. My sister, for example, is almost always bring a failing, or barely passing mark. When she brings home one full mark in two weeks, my parents get so so proud of her and congratulate her and what not.

That sometimes makes me angry because I feel as if they only care about my sister or brother but not of me. But now, I found a way to get over this. It's very simple actually. I just congratulate my sister or brother and I leave the room. I taught myself not to get upset or jealous of the way my parents sometimes act. I actually found a reason for this.

My reason will answer your question above: Can you explain why they do this, if possible. Well, they do this because they're proud of you. It's as simple as that. You always bring home good grades and so they don't feel the need to congratulate you anymore because they know you're doing good. Does that make sense? When your siblings bring home a good grade, your parents congratulate them because they don't usually bring home good grades. They probably feel that if they congratulate her, this will encourage her to do better. They don't feel the need to do that for you because they know you bring home good grades on a daily basis and they don't feel that you need to get encouragement because they know you won't let them down.

When you bring home bad grades, they get upset because they were expecting you to get a better grade. They were probably just shocked. Does that make sense?

I hope I was able to help you understand :)

~TheWeirdoWhoIsCool