I wish my parents praised me as much as they do my younger brother

I am 16, I am in a family of 6 girls and 2 boys. The boys have always been favorited. They have always gotten the most slack, the most praise, the most babying. I am so very jealous.

I was homeschooled my 7th and 8th grade year, in those two years I fell significantly behind in school work because I was taking care of everything else. I cooked for my family, I cleaned up after them, I took care of all four dogs, and I have to try and balance out my school work on top of that. I never could. I had developed an eating disorder during that time, I developed depression, and I developed severe anxiety. I never once got a sincere thank you. I never once had someone check up on me. Contrarily, I was met with anger with my downfall. They said I was being dramatic or an attention seeker. I was so isolated.

However, my freshman year, I transferred to a private school. I truly began to excel here. I realized that i wasn’t stupid, that I just needed time to actually do my school work. I got straight A’s. Not one praise, but my younger brother got all the praise.

My sophomore year was a bit trickier, I got A’s and B’s instead of straight A’s, but it was still something to me. I was hard on myself at first about my grades dropping to B’s but then i realized that i had come too far to beat myself up over it. I had to come to this realization on my own. I didn’t have my mother or father telling me that they were proud of me, that I tried my best, or that I was doing good.

I don’t need their validation but I want it. As selfish as it sounds, I want them to recognize my accomplishments. I pulled myself out of every grave dug with no help from them. I couldn’t ever ask them for help. That’s how it’s always been.

I’m sorry that this is all over the place, I suppose that’s the way my thoughts are at the moment. So I can’t get a concise vent.