little sister is no more

Do you have siblings? I have a sister, who is 10 years younger than me and a stepbrother who is around my age, so we basically grew up together and went through the same stages. With my younger sister, it was different. I was 9 years old when she was born. From that moment on, I have always seen myself as her protector and I wanted to make sure that we have a strong bond, so that she would come to me for advice when she would get older.

Eventually, that happened sooner than expected. My little sister isn’t that little anymore. She is now 11 and I’m turning 21 next month. Step by step, I noticed her getting older. She began to meet her friends more often, developed a sense of style (mainly inspired by her friends and the latest trends) and started to talk about boys. She even has her first „boyfriend“ which was her well kept secret. How did I find out about that? I was trying to learn for an exam but couldn’t really focus, so I was looking around the room, when I noticed a small purple box laying underneath some clothes, which my mom flat ironed the other day. I wanted to know, what it was and to my lucky surprise, it was a box of heart-shaped chocolate. Of course I had to take some, I mean I was exhausted by the fact that I should be studying, right?

I was just eating my third piece of chocolate, when my sister entered the room. When she saw me standing there, eating heart-shaped chocolate pieces, she looked at me with her eyes wide open and suddenly started running towards me. „HOW DARE YOU!“, she screamed while having the angriest look on her face that I’ve ever seen, determined to run me over. Of course she didn’t have the strength to do that, so she just ran into me while brutally trying to get that purple box, that I was holding in my hands. I mean, she even used her fingernails! The audacity, I know.

I was shocked by her behaviour and put the box on top of a shelf and that’s when she said „this was my boooyfriend’s present to me, you pig!“

Her what? It turned out that she has a „boyfriend“ since last November and she didn’t tell me about that? I was upset and felt disconnected from her, for I always tried to be the „cool sister“ that you can talk about anything with. What’s the reaction of a butthurt (but still graceful) older sister? Exactly, telling mom. Not my proudest moment. However, regarding the fact that „relationships“ during that age aren’t that serious, she didn’t get in trouble but she had to promise to not go head over heels for boys and to always put school first. Didn’t we all hear that speech from our parents?

The fact, that my younger sister had a relationship, she did’t tell me about didn’t sit right with me. But that’s when it hit me: there comes a time, when little children make decisions of their own, developing manners and characteristics that you don’t have any control over. I once read a quote that went something like „Don’t get kids, when you cannot accept, that they will become adults of their own one day“. I think that this quote is very meaningful and true, we can try to support the younger generation, but in the end, they decide, which path and which advice they take. We can just hope, that we could tribute in any positive way.

– Jathilda