This month’s Teen Ink featured five pages packed with memoirs and poetry about siblings. Of these, the article that stood out to me most was “How to Be the Oldest,” by Brevann Nun. The piece discusses the trials and tribulations of being an older sibling, and the tough love that comes with having one of the sometimes-lovable monstrosities that is a younger sibling. Nun eloquently describes the timeline of having a sibling from before their birth to past childhood, in a tone that is both hilarious and beautifully poignant.
As the older sibling to a younger brother, my relationship with whom jolts from sworn enemy to best friend, it was not hard for me to relate to this piece.  Especially if they aren’t that much younger than you, little siblings are just a small, often biting, menace in your life who don’t offer the supposed sage advice and guidance of older ones and aren’t half as cute as they’re made out to be. Yet, as Nun so perfectly points out, “Somehow, after all the anger, arguing, crying, and bitterness, we still care about those little irritations we call siblings. Of course, they don’t need to know that.” Little brothers and sisters can be terrors, there’s no denying it. But in the back of our minds there’s a deeply instilled protective love for them which isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.