I love my brother (gross). I know he's not perfect, but having been surrounded by females his entire life he's molded himself into a fairly respectable almost-grown-up. Brothers are great and all but they can also be pretentious douchebags. You can learn so much from your brothers and you can teach them so much in return, but there are certain things about them that will never change, and you'll love them just the same. Here's my take on the quintessential traits of big brothers and the best and worst things about those traits;
1) They Are Honest
Best
Guys are generally upfront about everything. Most men dislike back-stabbing and beating around the bush and brothers are no exception to those kinds of men. If you look like shit, he'll tell you; if you look great, he'll tell you that too. He will be honest if you mess up, do a good job, should maybe think about changing career, he will give you advice and feedback for everything and will be upfront and honest about all of it. You can always go to him if you want a genuine honest opinion about anything.
Worst
Sometimes that feedback hurts like a motherfucker. Being too honest has its drawbacks. There's a fine line between criticizing and straight up insulting. Brothers tend to toe that line and if you do get your feelings hurt by something he says, he will just say that's his opinion and you should be able to handle it. Plus he gives unsolicited advice all the time. Stop telling me how to live my life!! You're still family at the end of the day so no disagreement will stick.
2) They Are Protective
Best
Big brothers are super protective. If you're out together and someone gives you a hard time, or keeps trying to feel you up, he will put them in their place. He wants to get to know your boyfriends to make sure they aren't a) psychos, b) douchebags or c) losers. Being around them made feel looked after. His six foot tall mass of bearded hairy man flesh seemed like it could win all battles and scare off any evil. Then you grew up and he still has your back if you need him to. Like showing some dick that it's not OK to call his little sister a cow.
Worst
They can be so judgemental! Too over-protective and dismissive to someone who on the surface might appear to be someone you definitely wouldn't want your sister dating, but who in reality is a really great guy. Plus sometimes they honed their fighting skills by horsing around with you. You've got the scars and bruises to prove it. Asshole.
3) They Introduce You To Cool Things
Best
Like films, games, clubs, weird internet videos...When you were younger your brother always introduced you to new 'cool' things before any of your other friends: coffee, how to use the internet, drinking...You relied on them to tell you what was cool and what was lame. Their approval was needed and wanted. So much so that if they ever said that something that you did was really cool or interesting you nearly had to do a double-take because you couldn't believe it.
Worst
You were always too insecure to tell them that you weren't into something for fear that they would think you were lame. Which is probably why you agreed to watch that horror film even though you were terrified, and agreed to act as goalie while they practiced soccer resulting in an almost broken nose, and drink those shots even though you had barely figured out the whole drinking thing yet. If you didn't he'd call you a chicken and tease you for a week. You don't need the grief and thought he was awesome so...pass the shot glass.
4) You Learn What Men Should Act Like
Best
He loves his mother and his sisters and knows how to treat a lady. He shows you how a man should treat women. You get to see them growing up into a perfect gent, who's polite to ladies and dresses well. Who always offers to give you lifts and like to just hang out and chat about both of your lives. You see how he treats his girlfriends and want to find a guy who'd do the same (or better) for you. Because really you're never not competing with him.
Worst
You witnessed some seriously disgusting shit on the way to him becoming a perfect gent. Smelly rooms, dirty washing, ripped clothes, boxer days, nasty wounds, broken hearted almost girlfriends, him saying he hated the food you made and then ate it all when he got hungry. The sheer amount of food he could fit in his body was unbelievably revolting.
5) You're His Little Sister
Best
Being called his little sister. Being his kid sister probably got you some leg up in the popularity department. You could hang out with the cool older guys in school without it looking like you were trying to pull any of them. All the teachers who loved him, now love you. You have in-jokes from all the family gatherings. If you're fighting with one of your sisters, he comes in and makes fun of the both of you until you're all friends again.
Worst
Being called his little sister. Sometimes you just want to be seen as your own person! You have all the teachers that hated him so they now hate you by default. If you ever do start having feelings for any of his friends, neither of you can act on it because he'd go apeshit. Yet he's allowed to get with girls your age and younger? #doublestandards. You get blamed for all the crap he pulls, or you're at least associated with it.
6) He Teaches You How To Drink
Best
Most likely, it's him that will first introduce you to alcohol and will probably try to pressure you into drinking it but he'd never take it too far: like holding you down while his friends pour a shot into your mouth, that's torture, not cool. He'll tell you which drinks you should start off with, he tell you what's good with what, he might explain what the different shots are and cocktails so that when you go out with your friends you'll be the one everyone turns to for guidance on the drink menu. Plus you often get drunk together with on family gatherings and tell shit stories and bond. #bestoftimes
Worst
He will act all self-righteous and think he's some sort of alcohol guru, which he might be, but he doesn't have to be a dickhead about it. You know some stuff. If you have a house party with your friends he will be the one that everyone thinks is awesome because he'll be the life and soul of the party while you figure out what's the difference between being tipsy and being drunk while drinking beer in the back with your besties. When you're out together he might try and screw you over by ordering you a double when you wanted to take it slow tonight, or he gets you something with a ton of alcohol in it, like a Long Island iced tea and lies to you about how drunk its going to make you. Cheers bro.
Result
You love him and he loves you and you'll put up with each other's crap for the rest of your lives. Isn't that what family's all about?
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