Being the oldest sibling in a family is hard, but Chloe Topp, 17 and a junior in high school, manages the job. As the older sister of three younger siblings, Topp is the balance of the family as her siblings look up to her. She states that since she’s the oldest, her younger brother and sisters automatically listen to her. Luckily, Topp is wise, and her responsibility and advice are blessings for her younger siblings. 

As the oldest figure, she keeps her young brother Freddy (9) calm and safe at night when he gets scared. As the only sibling able to drive, Topp gets the family Uber job as well. She consistently drives Freddy and Josie, 12, around. Freddy is the most driving work, considering he is in four different sports, and she drives him to practices.

Since she’s the most mature, she has the job of picking out the movie for family movie nights. This is a difficult task because all of the children have different personalities; it’s always a chaotic process: Freddy wants Cars, Josie wants a scary movie, but Lilly wants neither of those. The crucial part of picking a movie is finding a balance, which usually ends up being the movie that Topp wants. 

Topp’s most difficult challenge is her sister, Lilly, who is 15 years old. Topp and Lilly habitually “Fight it out,” usually about clothes. Topp’s best tip to dealing with a younger sister is to have a “Day of Silence” where communication is cut off for the full day. If the situation gets too out of hand with Lilly, Topp calls for help from their mom; this remedy usually relieves the situation of most of the tension and she implements her wisdom to the girls.

While it is a lot of work, Chloe Topp would not want to change anything for the world. The most important part of being an older sibling is to love her family more than anything, and be there for their needs. She loves her siblings and their life-long bond that they all hold.