h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"There's also the added bonus that you'll have a built-in babysitter a decade down the line..." That sentence above makes me nauseated, and now that my mother has died, the family dynamics just keeps going on that my two younger siblings, brothers, from my mother's second marriage go on expecting me to assume her place. I hate the age gap.

Can't agree there. My elder sister and I love the 14-year age gap between us, and I have a brother who is 4 years older again. Having two elder siblings makes me the baby of the family, but there was the bonus that I'm always looked after. And I do my bit - I keep my sister young, give her someone to party with (when so many of her age have settled into domestic drudgery and the inevitable motherhood), and of course, she always has someone who looks up to her.

The respect and love you get from much younger siblings is a gift, really, when you consider that many siblings close in age end up practically hating each other.

Unless you're the one with the responsiblity for the younger sibs
(brothers) which just goes on forever, even past the mother's death.
Equality would have been a gift.