I’ll never forget when my little sister came into this world.

It was January 18th, at around 1:30 in the afternoon and I had only recently just turned 5 years old just three days before that.

In my mind, the mere idea of having a younger sister was exciting. Why? Because my older sister was already someone that I looked up to and I wanted someone who was younger than me who I could show the world (boss around).

I’m only kidding! Kind of.

One normal day at kindergarten, I suddenly heard my name being called by my teacher saying that I was going home early. Well, not exactly going home, but going to the hospital, where I would see my little sister for the first time. My life completely changed for the better.

So here’s a list of the best parts about having a younger sister.

All of a sudden you’re trusted with advice about the world.

Being a little 5-year-old at the time of my sister’s birth, I was never exactly inquired about anything from anyone. Once my sis was talking, she never ever refrained from asking me questions, which I was more than happy to answer for her, even though I still wasn’t really sure why the sky was blue.

You get to be a kid again.

When I was 12, she was 7. At the time, I thought I was so grown up. But when my sister was there, my assumption that I was wiser never stopped me from playing barbies or playing hide-and-seek. And who doesn’t love Clifford the Big Red Dog?

Braiding hair, doing makeup and nails, trying on clothes.

I taught her how to braid and french-braid, which took a lot of patience and practice. But once, she learned, she was always so happy. Makeup and nails were the same, and we would always play dress-up after messily putting on too much blush and too much eyeshadow.

As for the clothes, my hand-me-downs were usually given to her, so whenever I would see her wearing them, I would smile. Although she wasn’t always happy about the hand-me-down situation, she makes up for it my taking clothes from my closet now that we’re the same shirt size.

Driving her places.

Pretty sure this is more of a benefit for her than it is for me, but I’m usually always at her disposal when it comes to driving her to a friend’s house or to the movies. I enjoy doing it that much more when I come home from school though, I admit.

Having inside jokes.

I’ve never laughed so hard as I have when I’m with her. We could literally be simply staring at one another and we’ll just burst out laughing. Then there’s our jokes that make completely no sense at all, but they’re the most hilarious thing ever for us.

Having someone laugh at you and vice versa.

Along with having inside jokes with, having a little sister helped me to never take myself too seriously. If something was going wrong, she’d usually just laugh at me and make light of the situation, which she’d inevitably learned from me.

Always having someone in this house with you, so you’re never bored.

I honestly have no idea what I would’ve done if I had grown up as an only child. It seemed as if whenever I grew bored, my sister would invite me to play cards or a board game with her. Or, even better, to climb trees!

Having someone to miss.

Whenever leaving for school, I always miss her. (I miss my other family members too, I swear!) Sure, there’s technology to keep us connected, but it’s definitely not the same as laughing with her face to face.