Siblings

When my youngest brother was born, I was four years old. His birthday is this weekend, and he is going to be 16, which is crazy to me. He is going to be driving. My little brother, driving an actual car on the roads. That's scary. I also have a middle brother who is only 18 months younger than me. My brothers and I are pretty close, we’ve always gone to school together and done pretty much everything together. When I was in middle and at the beginning of high school, I remember my brothers and I fighting a lot. Not to say that we didn’t have good times cause we did. But I think fighting is just something that just comes with having siblings. Since being at college, I’ve realized how much I actually miss my brothers. When I went home for breaks, we had a lot of fun together. And we fought considerably less. I’d like to think that it’s because they miss me too. There are a lot of great things that come with having siblings, but as with most things, there are downfalls too. I want to say again that I love my brothers, I really do. Anything I might say as a con is out of love. I promise.  

Pro: You always have someone to hang out with. I remember when we were little and it was summer my brothers and I would always play together. We would spend hours outside playing various games that we made up or watching movies in the basement. As we got older, the more we would go see movies together and drive to the coffee shop together. If I wanted to go do something, there was always someone to go with me. Even if I was just sitting around the house, they would be there sitting around with me. I especially saw this when I came home from college. I noticed that my brothers actually wanted to do stuff with me, and that was a lot of fun.  

Con: They are annoying. If you have siblings, I know you agree with me here. Sometimes they just get on your nerves. And sometimes they mean to do it. My brothers know exactly what annoys me and do it on purpose. But they are your siblings, so it’s just part of life that they are going to annoy you. I remember when we were in elementary school, one thing that absolutely drove me crazy was when my brothers made the same lunch I did. We made our own lunches, and I don’t know why it bothered me so much. I just wanted them to do their own thing and not copy me. As much as they annoyed me, I annoyed them right back. It’s just what siblings do to each other. It’s part of the job.  

Pro: Siblings always have your back. For example, imagine it’s a Friday night and it’s been a rough week at school. All you want to eat for dinner is pizza from your favorite restaurant, but you know your parents will say no if you ask them. But, if you get your siblings to ask them too, it’ll seem like everyone has had a rough week and everyone wants some pizza. Or you are at school at recess and you see that someone is messing with your sibling, you go to help your sibling. If my brother is in trouble, I will always go to help them and have their back.  

Con: You fight a lot. I think this is just something that comes with having siblings. You live with them your whole life. So it is inevitable that you will fight. One of the things you might fight over is food. There were so many times when I would come downstairs to get a snack I have been waiting to have all day, only to find that my brothers ate it all. And that would make me so mad. You fight over the tv and what you watch. For whatever reason, my brothers always decided what we were going to watch. Fighting over who got the remote, even if that person wasn’t deciding what to watch, was a constant battle with my brothers.  

Pro: Siblings are your built-in best friends. I know that’s cliche, but it’s true. Growing up, they are the people you played all the silly games with. They are the people who have been through pretty much all the same family stuff you have, so they understand your thoughts a little better than other people. I have so many memories with them. I remember going camping with my brothers and watching movies together. I have a really great memory from last summer going camping with my brothers. We stayed up late and talked around the campfire. You do everything with them and you have an unspoken understanding. I can just look at my brothers and understand what they are thinking.  

I’ll end on a pro, because siblings really are a blessing, no matter how annoying they can be sometimes. If you have siblings, I hope you could resonate with some of the pros and cons. My own brothers are pretty annoying sometimes, but I still love them. We have a lot of great memories together. I really don’t know what I would do without them. Probably be kinda bored. Since I’ve been at college, I don’t get to hear as much about their lives as I would at home. I miss a lot of the things that happen to them. I missed my middle brother’s senior play, which is a big deal at our high school. I’ve missed my youngest brother’s swim meets. I’ve missed hearing about all the ridiculous things they do with their friends. Coming to college made me realize how much fun I had with them and I miss it a lot. We still have our inside jokes and still have fun when I go home. And when I am home I notice that they do want to do more things with me than when I was home all the time. Several times they’ve gone with me to take the dog to play or get coffee, which isn’t something that happened when I was still in high school. I think my going off to college has changed our relationship as brothers and sister for the better. Even though we live miles apart for most of the year, I feel so much closer to them.  

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