The Burden of the Firstborn || Choose yourself First
Published on HivePostify by @pinkbeee · Wed Sep 02 2026
I cannot really tell if this happens everywhere but over here in my locality, it seems the first born child is made to carry so much weight and family burden. Let me give you a true story.
My cousin who stayed with us at the family compound finally got married to his wife and decided to bring her into the family compound. Everyone advised him to take his wife out to avoid future problems but he insisted that when he has the money he will do the needful.
His wife Adora finally got pregnant and gave birth to her first child a female and they named her Lily during her naming ceremony. Baby Lily was greatly celebrated and everyone seemed to love her, Lily started growing up and she was celebrated on her first birthday.
Lily was two years old when her mother gave birth to her younger brother, Liam, her mother started sending her around, go get this for me, go get that for me, make sure you look after your younger sibling while I am out to the market.
Later on, her mother gave birth the third time after four years and the this time around, she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. They were still living at the family compound.
I noticed that for every house chores and responsibility Lily’s name was always mentioned. She will always be calling out to Lily, even while Lily was doing laundry outside, and her younger brother was playing football, the mother will never call the younger brother to send errands.
Lily started carrying the burdens of her younger siblings on her head untill they began to grow up, she took blames for most of their mistakes and misfortunes. She was always expected to take care of all her siblings and care about their welfare.
When Lily started a small trade business, her parents and siblings started making demands from her telling her that she is the first born of the house and has to shoulder responsibilities of her parents and siblings without complaining.
Lily's siblings started feeling entitled to Lily’s money and achievement as they started becoming lazy and selfish, while they depended on their elder sister for everything.
A point came where Lily disappeared from the house and that environment entirely and nobody saw her again until her parents and siblings after waiting for a long time, started looking for what to do for themselves and taking responsibility by themselves.
Lily was later reported to have been seen in Lagos and that she was living a good life there and doing business.
Most people feel Lily abandoned her family, but I feel Lily made the right choice by choosing herself for the first time in her life.
Photo is mine and was taken with my Infinix smart 5 phone camera
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