There are memories that always stick with you, memories that you hold so precious that it's hard to forget them. They are those moments that changed your life one way or the other. For me, one of those moments was the first time I saw my little sister in the arms of my mom in the hospital.
For nine years I've had the responsibility and the joy of being the older the sister in the family. Seeing my sister grow and help her in moments I didn't have an older sibling to help me in made me feel like I had an important role in her life even though I wasn't either one of her parents.
For us older siblings, our responsibility isn't the same as that of our parents. We aren't in charge of grounding them or telling them what to do and what not to do. We are in charge of making sure they don't commit our mistakes and for them to make their own mistakes and help them learn from them. We have a duty to teach them how to be unique and do what makes them happy. But for that to happen, the older siblings have to believe that is possible. We are an example to them even if we don't really want to be. They look at what we do even if the say they don't. If we don't believe in ourselves, they won't learn how to believe in themselves either.
As an older sister, I know its not all fun and games. There are and will always be times when siblings fight and yell. In the nine years my sister has been on this earth, we've fought more times than I could count. But just like in any other type of relationship, you learn from those fights. You learn what bugs your brother and sister (which you can always use against them at some point), you learn when enough is enough and most importantly you learn what things not to say...ever.
Our siblings are the best friends that we can never get rid of as much as we want to sometimes. They will always be our family and we will keep seeing them grow into amazing human beings with our help. One important thing about being the older sibling is that our younger siblings aren't the only ones that learn about life in this relationship; we, the older siblings, can learn so much from them too.
My sister is still just a kid and already she has taught me so much. It's true that at her age she doesn't have as much responsibilities in life but even in hard or difficult times, she knows how to have fun and how to make a gray day a great day. I think we can all learn a little about how our young siblings look at the world and how they just put a spark back in our lives even when we can't see it at first.
