Pro - You're born into vast quantities of cool stuff just waiting to be discarded by older kids who've moved on.

Con - Some of that stuff is clothing your parents saved for ten years so that you could reuse it loooong after the trend had passed and looong before the clothing was retro-chic.

Pro - Extra adults or adult-like beings who will guide you like a parent when you want guidance.

Con - Extra adults or adult-like beings who will guide you like a parent when you don't want guidance, and will often give conflicting orders. (Like the time when I was 5, and I managed to get yelled at about 17 times in a half-hour for not getting/not putting away the milk. Then yelled at again when they realized I had been getting/putting away the milk for the past half-hour and didn't say anything. Then yelled at again for being "ridiculous" when I informed them that I tried to tell them others wanted/did not want milk out, and they told me to do as I was told NOW and not to make excuses.)

Pro - By the time you're into going places, there are many licensed drivers to take you where you want to be.

Con - By the time you're into going places, there are many licensed drivers to check up on you.

Pro - That kid in fourth grade who bullied everyone into doing what he said because his big brother was in high school and could beat them up eventually gets to you. You calmly inform him that your big brother is a Special Forces Marine on loan to a friendly South American government, training their military. Fourth grade bully turns pale and runs away.

Con - Fourth-grade bully's father informs him that it's illegal for adults to beat up children, but doesn't correct his bullying, so he charges you to teach you a lesson for scaring him.

Pro - Your big sister has already taught you simple self-defense moves by 4th grade, and you flip the little shit.

Con - Having been a regular attendendee at Sunday school, and a devoted listener at feminist discussion groups since before you acquired language, you have some confused vocabulary. This becomes clear when you respond to the boy who shares your cubicle in Kindergarten that he should not either get the higher hook just because he's a boy. And boys are NOT automatically bigger than girls. AND he's a BIG CALVINIST for thinking such stupid things, anyway.

Pro - Somebody, somewhere, always knew how to figure out your homework with you.

Con - Your brothers, although now out of the house and on their own, show up to vet your dates. In good weather, they do fun things like run the hedgetrimmer along the walk (at just that crucial height) as the boy arrives. The first comment made by every boy you ever went out with before you turned 20? "So, your brothers are big guys, huh?"

Pro - You don't have to babysit your younger siblings.

Con - Some of your older siblings move back, with spouses and children, and you have to babysit your nieces and nephews, which is the least you can do "because you don't contribute monetarily to the good of the household." (Response: Cut out ads for live-in domestic help from your area. Calculate the back-pay you are owed. Tape a bill to the fridge.)

Con - Since you're stuck home babysitting anyway, you might as well babysit even more children.

Pro - Nothing is as great an argument for carefully avoiding parenthood than regular responsibility for a batch of about six small children at a time.

Pro - There's always somebody around to reach stuff on the top shelf, even though they call you short because you can't do it yourself.

Con - It's perfectly possible to grow up into a 5'10" woman with a Napolean complex.