Siblings are, in many ways, both a blessing and a curse- mostly a blessing though unless they hog the TV remote control for way too long. I’ve been blessed with a younger brother, who’s two years my junior. While being the older one has its perks, it can also be kind of horrifying at times.

Sure, when you two are kids, under the age of say sixteen, things are fine. I mean, sure, you fight all the time. Things might sometimes get all kinds of violent and endearing terms like “moron” and “jerk” are thrown around at least a dozen times a day.

Then, before you know it, you’re 20 and he’s a teenager and the worrying starts. It’s like you start thinking of him as more like your responsibility and less like the annoying little kid you live with. You start getting closer because the age difference is no longer that significant and so, you start getting more and more into their world.

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You start worrying about his grades and about how well he’s doing at school. When he tells you about the crazy adventures he’s had with his friends, you covertly get concerned over his safety. It’s a struggle- being  his friend, aka the ‘cool’ sibling, and the older, more responsible one.

The things is, you need to keep your worries to yourself. If you share them with your parents, you’ll be a nark and if you share them with your sibling, you’ll be just another parent figure and they might just stop sharing stuff with you. So, you have to somehow find a way to both guide them and  be their confidant.

So, how do you slip them little pieces of advice without sounding too judgmental? Make your advice relatable. Be all like “yeah I’ve been there before and this is what I did..” or “this is how I’d react in this situation..” At the end of the day, they look up to you and will most likely listen to your advice if you say it in the ‘right’ way.

To wrap up, younger siblings are, despite their sometimes annoying antics, quite awesome and the older both of you get, the better your relationship becomes. It’s okay to worry about them and feel all kinds of responsible for them, but do realize that you’re still their sibling and not their parent. Don’t alienate them or be strict or parental because that’s just not your role.