I’m five years older than my sister and nine years older than my brother. I will always see them as the heathens who terrorized me throughout my childhood. Like when my brother ate a mothball when I was babysitting him, and I called poison-control thinking he was going to die. Or that time when my sister slapped herself in the face and blamed me (I was grounded for two weeks!). You may think they’ll be tiny-terrorizers forever, but they wont. And what happens when they start to grow up? And even worse… get a significant other?!

Have Your Voice Heard: Become an Odyssey Creator

Initially I wanted to stalk the crap out of him, interrogate my sister, and not so quietly judge from the sidelines. And you may want to do the same for your younger sib. But think back to your first boyfriend, and how the only people you got to tell were your friends (who already knew all about him) and your parents (who probably hated him immediately). As the oldest we never got the experience of going to the older sibling for advice about how to tell your parents you have an S/O, or swap stories of times you almost got caught sneaking out. Because of that we’re more independent, but we’re also a little closed-off. So my challenge for you is to open up.

Open up to the idea that your sister is no longer running around the house with underwear on her head, and instead is going to parties with boys. Ah! Boys!

Open up to the idea that your sister has already had her first kiss, even though you were pretty sure she was still making out with the mirror.

Open up to the idea that while you may see her a toddler, she isn’t anymore.

Being a sister is an odd experience. You spend your childhood hating each other, and then you grow up and kind of… maybe just a little… start to like them.