Why It's Important To Remind Your Siblings Every Day How Much You Love Them

We often take our brothers or sisters for granted. We believe they will always be there to help us, teach us, guide us or to annoy us every single day of our lives.

We assume they will always be rocks to lean on when we’re tired or the ones who will wake us up and open our eyes with some harsh truths when we need to hear them.

In the multitude of days we have to celebrate most family members, siblings seem to be pushed to the last place in the line.

I have always valued my brothers and I cannot imagine my life without them, but I must confess I do not tell them this very often. It’s a tendency I am trying to change.

To make peace with my past misdemeanors and the hundreds of times my brothers had to put up with my theatre plays, long incoherent stories and requests for glasses of water at very inconvenient times, I would like to dedicate this article to them.

Thank you for all the math tutorials over the years, and how patient you were when you were trying to explain to me why Peter Pan’s shadow was no threat to my existence at my tender age of 4.

Thank you for all the brotherly advice when it came to dating, and to the battles you helped me fight against the bullies in my life. You taught me the rules of fair play, and you were the first ones who would smack me on the head if I was being rude, mean or disrespectful.

Thank you for the thousands of "get out of jail free" cards you provided me with to try to escape Mom and Dad’s grounding. You did your best to make the rules lighter by sneaking me out of my curfew and taking me to the movies on a school night (even though I couldn't stay awake in math class the next morning).

You were always that rock of knowledge and wisdom, and I loved the fact that I could rely on the experiences of two boys 10 years older.

On occasion, you screamed at me when private property had been trespassed and more often than not you would knock on the door of the bathroom stating that I was wasting all the hot water.

The endless fights over the remote, video games and who had the privilege of the computer were part of our daily struggles -- and you were my only two roommates who consistently ate my favorite cereal and used all the milk without so much of a warning.

Having brothers or sisters is a wonderful world of contrasts. It’s one of the rockiest roads out there, but I have to admit I loved you even more after I grew.

After the age of 16, you stopped being the other set of guardians who existed only to keep me in check or the saviors who would rescue me from parental jaws. After that moment in time, I was a full-grown person with my quirks, moments and voice, and you let me be a part of your adventures. We started having our own relationship as equals and partners in crime.

So, the bottom line is, acknowledge how important your brothers and sisters are in your life. Whether they messed with you all the time and made you feel awkward, or even if they were the antithesis of what a role model should be, they were extremely important in shaping the person you are today.

They are also more likely to stick with you in the future than anyone else you will meet, and for that, if not for much more, we should all take a minute to appreciate them and let them know how much we do.

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