You probably have had an issue with a younger sibling. Perhaps, you managed to tick your brother off and he reacted back by getting physical. Or you have a younger sister who cries and screams if you don’t give her what she wants. It drives you to the point where you want call an animal specialist, because by now you probably think they are wild. Congratulations, you are a sibling who is five years older than your younger sibling. Yes, I have also had that problem with my younger siblings, because of our large age gap. I was able to survive and I will pass my wisdom to you on how to tame a younger sibling.

Younger siblings have a tendency of resorting to a special weapon in their arsenal. The weapon is known as tattling. Remember when you were younger and tattling on someone else? You became known as a tattle-tale. That is what a majority of younger siblings resort to causing you to get into trouble with something you may have not done. There is a way to avoid getting in trouble and keeping yourself and your sibling happy. Yelling at your younger sibling is the first thing older siblings do. That, however, can have drastic consequences. You get into more trouble. I remember studying for a test, then my sister came into my room prancing and singing in a high pitched voice. I angrily yelled at her and she told my mother, who caused me to be grounded. You want to avoid any means of screaming at a sibling, since it can lead to issue of being grounded. What you should do first is calm yourself down. Inhale and exhale deeply to calm yourself. If that doesn’t work, count to ten slowly. If all else fails, squeeze something soft and inanimate, this will release all of your frustration and any pessimistic thoughts. After that, talk to your siblings with a calm and soothing voice and explain to them you need them to be quiet. If they don’t listen, bribe them with candy. I know bribery is something you shouldn’t do with your siblings, but candy solves the problem in this case. Believe me, my siblings would not calm down unless I gave them a sweet. If that doesn’t work, talk to a parent.

Alright, your younger siblings are now calm, but they won’t leave you alone. These are the “overly-attached” siblings. The way to work around this is once again to be patient. Patience is a virtue, or at least it’s something you should have when dealing with siblings. My younger brother and sister follow me around everywhere I go. The way I deal with them is to find something else that may catch their interest. Kids love to be entertained so if you turn their attention to something else, they will go to that instead of bugging you. First thing you should do is ask why they are following you. Most likely the answer you will receive is, “I just want to”, or in other cases, “I want to do what you are doing because it is cool”. You need get them to do look at something else. One thing that works for me is tell them to go watch television. If that doesn’t work, I tell them, “go and see what daddy is doing”. Both of these tactics work, especially well for my siblings. In order to figure out what distraction to use on your sibling, you need to know their personality, likes and dislikes, and any other things that would intrigue them. This way you can formulate a diversion and they will go towards that. Just make sure that when you tell them to go and look at whatever the thing is, that it is legitimate. If it is not there, they will come back and continue to follow you around. I tried showing them something that wasn’t there and they came back to me. Unless you enjoy your siblings coming back to you, make sure not to skip that.
So you have finally gotten your siblings away from you, but now your parents need to go run errands and they need you to babysit. I had this happen to me many times. The easiest way to deal with siblings at a time like this is to find an activity you guys can do together. In order to be successful in doing an activity with them, you need to know their likes and dislikes. My siblings love to do arts and crafts or sit down and watch an old Disney movie. Both of those activities I love to do as well, so it makes it easier for me to get along with them. On the other hand they hate going on walks, so I try to find a compromise with them. Remember, whenever you talk to your younger sibling, you need to have a kind and soothing tone. When I asked them what they would like to do, they wanted to go out and play, so I suggested the park. I still got what I want and my siblings were happy because they could play while I walked around. If you aren’t willing to make compromises, it won’t work out and your siblings will complain continuously. If you are the type of person who can’t make compromises, the other decision is to find something that you all like to do.

Siblings are something that almost everybody has to deal with. Those who do, believe it or not, your life is a lot more interesting than those of an only child. One time, I told one of my friends that she’s lucky to be an only child, but she told me that my life is a lot more interesting and that there are moments that can only be shared with siblings. I thought about and I agree, that younger siblings make your life more interesting. Even though they may bug or irritate you,in the end, they are still your siblings. That’s why I hope that the steps above can help you in surviving your younger sibling and at the same time let your relationship grow further. It’s helped me, so it’s bound to help you.