Pros and Cons of Being a Last Born In a Nigerian Family

The last children are special beings. Just ignore the idea of being over-pampered, spoilt, childish, manipulative or stubborn, which always comes from the art of sibling words and Nigerian beliefs. Do you not know the joy bring the last child? It’s an excellent feeling.  

The fun and enjoyable part comes when you have many age gaps, and your family members will pamper you! 

The best thing

I’m the last born of 4 in a Nigerian family, and it’s a breath of fresh air as the parenting cane of a typical Nigerian mom has been hanged somewhere far away. Oh! Yeah, there are different perks to being the last born though your older siblings may act as being mean but trust me, they love and cherish you! 

This, however, doesn’t guarantee any downside. On the contrary, there’s simply nothing with no side effects. This article will share the advantages and disadvantages of being the last child in a Nigerian home. 

Advantages of Being the Last Child 

1. Gets Special Treatment

Last born accepting the prize of special treatment

As the last born, you are prone to enjoy special treatment from families, relatives, siblings and the one and only parent. You get gifts out of the blues before your parents receive theirs. Check out the special treatment of not being beaten or corrected from the list whilst your siblings enjoy the typical Nigerian mom’s cane. This one treatment is a common advantage of being the last child in a Nigerian home. 

2. Well Pampered 

This is so true. As the last born, you escape every scolding and the word “don’t you know he’s the last born” makes almost every last child untouchable. You get to eat extra food from your parents and get everything you ask for because you are the last child. Everyone wants to be at your mercy because if you cry, it will be a problem for your siblings, as getting hurt equals getting punished. Your siblings later get you punished, by the way. 

3. Money Bag 

All those tokens you get from families, siblings, parents, even neighbours. That’s your money bag. They accumulate to become great money that your siblings lend from though they are never returned no matter how hard you get. But yeah, you are the money bag among your siblings. 

4. Get To Leverage On Sibling’s Mistakes

Being the last born opens you to learn from your sibling’s mistakes, not just the pampering part. This closeness you develop with your siblings makes them share so much with you thinking you are a child, and after the whole talk, they’d say, “don’t be like me“. Those words make you wiser.

5. Fewer Responsibilities

An advantage of being the last child in Nigeria is that it comes with lesser responsibilities, as your older siblings are weighed on that. Starting from cooking and doing the most chores to nursing and looking after you.

Whenever your parents are absent, they are in charge. As the last born, your tasks are limited. All you have to do is obey and calmly await what comes next. Even as you grow older in Nigeria, they still see less responsibility in you. The belief is that your siblings get the work done, and you get the reward. 

6. You Are Never Wrong 

This part of the advantage of being the last child will always get to your siblings as they are at the receiving end. Anything you did wrong is their fault. Have you ever imagined why? Because they see you as a child and will always remain as one, your parents believed that for you to have done so, you got to copy their actions.

So your sibling finds it difficult to play rough with you because they will be at fault. In the end, whatever you do means no wrong, but as you grow, you begin to learn. Your siblings are automatically meant to be wiser and smarter, so why not you? 

7. Excess Clothing

The best advantage of being the last child is your openness to accepting gifts of shoes, bags, and clothes from everyone. You never run out of “my sister dash me wears,” even if they are bigger than you. Your bags are filled with clothes you don’t wear, which is weird. 

8. Freedom

 Being the last born makes you free to do what you want. You are tagged “free”. Free to sleep anytime, play around the compound, and do just anything because your folks don’t want to force you otherwise. All you have to worry about is facing your studies and staying obedient to rules. 

9. You Develop A Thick Skin

As the last born, you get open to slagging or criticism. You know your jealous siblings get through to you at any given time to torment you as this goes on. You get to develop the habit of adaptation and deal with it no matter what. By the way, you are a true Nigerian if you learn to develop a thick skin. 

Read Also: PARENTING TIPS FOR NIGERIANS: 7 COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO BUILD A HAPPY HOME

Disadvantages of Being the Last Child 

There are surely no advantages with no disadvantages; let’s look at them. 

1. Sidelined Opinions

Everyone, including your parents, believes or sees you as a child as the last born. This limits how you think and contribute to decisions and actions. They see you as slag and have no high expectations of you. Sometimes they don’t welcome your opinion, which is a typical disadvantage of being the last child in Nigeria.

Every baby in the house has experienced this, and nobody has such high expectations of you. So don’t contribute to older people’s discussions if you don’t want to hear abusive words. 

Read Also: HOW TO INCREASE A CHILD’S BRAIN CAPACITY: SECRETS TO RAISING GENIUSES

2. Comparison 

Nigerian parents do this a lot, and they tend to make comparisons that sometimes affect self-esteem and beliefs. So every action you take is being downed to the fact that you are the last child and should take after your siblings, be like them, and do what they do. Well, you shouldn’t follow all their actions. Be Yourself!

3. Last To Take Actions

Would you believe me if I say this is a great disadvantage? The last born is always the last in taking action, it is believed that everything comes with age, and if you’ve not gotten to that age, you should not take such action or decision. The world is fast-moving, and the word “overtaking is allowed” is taking over. Don’t sleep on it! 

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4. You Are The Test Subject

This hurts! When your siblings always test everything on you, their clothes, shoes, mess with you, write on your face and do lots of silly things. Don’t tell me you never experienced such. Because I have and I don’t want such an experience again.

5. The Errand Maniac

Last born accepting the responsibility of running errands.

You are the last born, meaning you are the errand man. Since you do not have anyone to send on an errand or to be sent in your stead, you will kindly and reluctantly carry out your role. Any errand around the house belongs to you, from carrying stuff to washing dishes to ironing a bundle of clothes to buying things, and you must not come back late or complain. 

You surely know how Nigerian parents can be right. Unfortunately, restrictions also come with the errands, and you don’t want to be at a place you are commanded not to do that will warrant you the “Nigerian mom resetting slap.”

Let’s ignore the unending beatings from your siblings (those jealous beings). They get angry at the slightest error and don’t have a chill in them. But they are always amazing and have your back anytime, any day. Nigerian siblings can be one or both at the same time. It depends on the mood. 

Conclusion

Being the last born is always a blessing at the same time. Learning to leverage opportunities from the last born position is crucial. When it comes to comparison, don’t always give in to it, it kills self-beliefs and actions. Rather, always light out your words, take responsibility and never compromise your idea to silence. You are a special breed. Leverage it and be a great work in action! 

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About Author

Ayopadeayo Oluwadamilola

Podcast Host and Content Writer.

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