Shutterstock

Being the oldest child sometimes means watching your parents learn as they go, but those lessons should eventually benefit you too.

One 18-year-old endured harsher rules than his siblings, so when his parents call him their “practice kid,” would you keep accepting it or finally walk away?

Years of stricter grades, curfews, chores, and fewer privileges leave him wondering why everyone else received the improved version of his parents.

Check out the culmination of the story at graduation.

AITA for telling my parents I refuse to be their practice kid anymore?

I (18m) am the oldest of my parents five children.

There’s me, brother (13m), sister (12f), sister (10f) and brother (7m). My parents never treated me that great and the older I got, the worse it seemed to get.

But I noticed as my siblings got older it was different and they were night and day different with me.

I wasn’t allowed to spend a lot of time with friends as a kid. My parents said there was no way they’d do all that and I should be home.

But my siblings from age 5 could go to friends houses and from age 4 if the friend lived in our neighborhood.

When I asked my parents about it both times they told me that I was their practice and they didn’t want all their kids to whine into their face about missing out.

Wow.

My parents had the rule with me that you eat everything off your plate or it either gets saved for next time or you don’t get to leave the table.

When I say everything I mean clear your plate everything.

So if I was full and left say three peas or something, I was forced to stay and finish or they’d be taken aside and served to me next time.

Not with my siblings.

And when I asked my parents about that they said they learned from me.

How nice for you.

The next thing was grades.

My parents were always super angry when I got less than As.

Even if it was a B and everyone in my class got a B because the test was especially hard, it didn’t change my parents stance.

I was grounded for Bs, I was forced to do extra chores for a month, I was left out of stuff. But my siblings could get Cs and Ds and it didn’t change anything.

This was another thing I brought up to my parents and by that point they were tired of me asking why things were different and they told me I was their practice run and they learned from things with me.

This just keeps getting worse.

And like, I know people learn from parenting as they go. But they learned with me and gave the benefits to my siblings.

I saw none.

They were never nicer, or let up on me.

They didn’t apologize for being hard on me or for yelling at me almost all the time.

Nothing like that happened and there are multiple other ways they were different between me and my siblings.

Expectations for chores were way higher with me always, birthday and Christmas gifts were way different and noticeably so to make both sides of the family question what they gave me because it seemed so little compared to my younger siblings and it wasn’t that mine was more expensive, it was always the opposite.

Sigh.

There was also really strict times set for me.

I wasn’t allowed out past 4pm during summer even in my teens.

I wasn’t allowed to attend certain birthday parties. Just so much stuff.

My parents got annoyed over a year ago my guidance counselor asked about any financial help I’d get with college and wanted to know if they had saved for me or anything.

The way they reacted, it just annoyed me and I know they save for my siblings, so it was when I knew I was done.

I kept my head down for a year and I left.

Good for you.

I graduated last month and I didn’t let my parents come.

My siblings weren’t there either.

But my parents expected tickets and instead of claiming some for them I got them for my grandparents instead.

My parents were angry and confronted me on it.

I had already moved out of their house and I live with my paternal grandparents right now.

I told my parents I was done being their practice kid and I refuse to keep it up anymore.

BOOM.

I said they can mess up my siblings and learn to live with it because I’m not here to be a punching bag while they get the best versions.

My parents accused me of all kinds of things, called me all kinds of things. But I’m truly so done.

Does that make me TA?

Especially where my siblings are involved? That’s why I’m asking here.

Choosing to stand up for himself after years of being treated unfairly has his parents calling him names, but he’s finally refusing to let them keep learning parenting lessons at his expense.

This person says the parents did it ALL wrong.

This person says can’t understand how parents could do this to their kid.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a girl who thinks her family is doing too much in criticizing the tidiness in her small space.

And this person confirms what we already know…

His parents repeatedly admitted they learned from raising him, yet they never relaxed the same harsh rules or apologized for how differently he was treated.

After graduation, he moved in with supportive grandparents and stopped giving his parents access to milestones they once assumed were theirs.

For once, the lesson landed on the parents instead, as their oldest child decided he was finished being the family test run.

They called him the practice kid for years, so he finally blew the whistle.