Summary

• Young Sheldon shows that Sheldon had more friends growing up than fans of The Big Bang Theory might realize.
• George Sr. in Young Sheldon is portrayed as a loving father, shifting the view of him as being an alcoholic and an unfaithful husband.
• Missy in Young Sheldon shows that, despite sibling disagreements, she deeply cared for and supported Sheldon.

Jim Parsons captured many hearts back in 2007 when he portrayed the quirky and overly obnoxious theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory. To everyone's surprise, including Sheldon's very own friends, the scientific genius was able to break free from certain quirks, accept a handful of people into his personal life, and eventually get married to an equally eccentric woman. For 12 seasons, fans watched Sheldon grow, and there are times when he even catches himself off guard with how much he's changed. With the creation of the Sheldon-centered spinoff, Young Sheldon, fans of both series cannot help but want to jump into The Big Bang Theory and correct Sheldon on some of the stories he tells about his younger years.

When adult Sheldon talks about his childhood, he primarily focuses on the amount of bullying he endured from his siblings as well as other kids at school. He makes his upbringing sound very isolated due to his IQ being higher than everyone else's in his life. However, when watching Young Sheldon, this does not seem to be the case at all. Sure, in comparison to his family and classmates, he was considered a genius, but he was also raised with a lot of love and compassion.

See for yourself how Young Sheldon proves that Sheldon Cooper's childhood was even better than he remembers with these seven examples.

7 Sheldon Had Several Friends, and He Even Almost Had a Girlfriend

While Jim Parsons' Sheldon is surrounded by friends almost every day of his life, he will often bring up the fact that he did not have any close relationships when he was growing up. This idea of a boy genius being completely isolated by his peers makes a lot of sense. However, when watching Young Sheldon, he actually had several friends, and they were really nice to him for the most part.

Tam (Ryan Phuong), for instance, was Sheldon's very best friend while growing up. When Sheldon (Iain Armitage) was just nine years old and starting high school, Mary Cooper (Zoe Perry) was nervous about her socially awkward baby boy making friends. Happily, in Season 1, Episode 2, "Rockets, Communists, and the Dewey Decimal System," Sheldon comes across Tam, an equally nervous individual who just wants to survive high school. Tam introduces Sheldon to comic books, they regularly chat at school, and Tam even gets a seat at the Cooper dinner table for a rather awkward evening.

Then there is Dr. Sturgis (Wallace Shawn), Sheldon's very first college professor, who develops a close relationship with the boy genius. The two bond over their love of science and the fact that Sheldon is well beyond his years when it comes to wondering about how things work in the universe. Dr. Sturgis even introduces Sheldon to an equally bright and young student, Paige Swanson (McKenna Grace). Some thought that Paige was the closest thing to a girlfriend that Sheldon would ever get, but happily, that did not prove to be the case when adult Sheldon later met Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik).

6 Sheldon's Dad Was a Much Better Person Than Sheldon Remembers/Realizes

One of the biggest issues fans have with the continuity between The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon is the way Sheldon's father is portrayed. In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon and his mother (Laurie Metcalf) talk about how his dad was an alcoholic who could not hold a job. There are even a few instances where he is called a cheater and a liar. Now, with Mary's rage and Sheldon's father having passed away without being able to tell his side of the story, fans simply believed that Sheldon's father was just not a great guy. However, looking at how George Cooper Sr. (Lance Barber) is with his family in Young Sheldon, it seems like the whole script has flipped.

Throughout the spinoff series, George Sr. is portrayed as a hard worker who loves his family. Sure, he enjoys the occasional beer, and he does not always understand what Sheldon is interested in or why; however, there is no doubt that he loves his wife and kids. There was a brief instance where George was seeking out companionship with someone of the opposite sex, but nothing ever came of that. The big "cheating scandal" that Sheldon recalls from his childhood was actually his mother, Mary, role playing to spice things up in the bedroom with her husband. In all, George Sr. was not the horrible father that older Sheldon remembers, but from a child's perspective, paired with his mother's way of telling stories, it does make sense for Sheldon to have blocked out most of the good memories he had with his dad.

5 Georgie Prevented Sheldon From Being Bullied

All throughout The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon will talk about his family, and we even get to meet his mother, sister, and Meemaw for a few instances. However, Sheldon's relationship with his brother, from his perspective, has always been a bit rocky. When we finally meet George Jr. (Jerry O'Connell) in Season 11's "The Sibling Realignment," he is just as upset as Sheldon about their dynamic. Leonard (Johnny Galecki) tries to get the two to reconcile, but when George Jr. explains that he was always looking out for his younger brother when they were kids, he says his biggest hangup with Sheldon is that the latter never appreciated or noticed his efforts.

When Leonard manages to bring the Cooper brothers together once more, they finally hash out their issues, and Sheldon realizes that Georgie never had an easy life either. It's comforting to know that the two were able to put certain things behind them, but with ten years of silence, it is also a bit heartbreaking to know what could have become of their relationship.

4 Missy Deeply Cared About Sheldon