Is Having a Sibling a Blessing or a Curse?

I am sure that most of you have brothers or sisters. And I am sure that this same thought must have occurred to you at one time or another. How many of you have lost your toys, clothes or something that you loved very much to your brother or sister? How many of you wish that you were the only child of the family? Welcome to the world of siblings.

From the moment our parents announce that there is to be a new baby in the family, we are expected to go through a lot of adjustments.

The first and foremost is sharing. Sharing of our dear parents, our rooms, our toys, our favorite foods and so on.

The second is comparison. The parents, teachers and sometimes even relatives start to compare the siblings. The comparison may be regarding our character, behavior, studies, coloring etc. The often repeated words in many houses is “Why can’t you be like your brother or sister? See how good they are. You should learn from them.”

The third is favoritism. Many parents have a favorite child. It may be because they remind them of their favorite person, like their parents or siblings. Or maybe because that child loves them unconditionally. However, this causes the less loved child to regard the other as a rival.

One of the favorite things our siblings like to do is to find out and tell our secrets to the very people we try to keep it secret from. They like to boast their own achievements and put down ours.

But, not everything about having a sibling is bad. They are generally there for us when we need them. We can always depend on them when we are in some difficult situation. They sometimes save us from punishments and retributions, if they feel sorry for us. Of course they might need a bribe or some sort of favor after-wards.

If your sibling is older than you, he/she would have paved the way for you in school, tuition and sports. If they are younger than you, you can and probably will boss them around and make them do what you want.

There is a Chinese proverb that translates as “You don’t realize the value of a thing until you lose it.” All of you are doing your A levels next year. After that most of you will leave the country for higher studies. This means you will be alone, without your family in some unknown location for 4 or 5 years. And I am sure that even though you will miss your parents, you will miss your siblings more. You will miss the shared space, shared confidence and secrets that united you.

So I sincerely hope that you will enjoy your blessings while you can and treat your siblings better.