Big Sister Tax

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

“Marya, come down here right now. I need to talk to you.”

Sighing, Marya recognized that she was in trouble by her grandma’s tone of voice. “It’s probably because Josiah tattled on me,” she thought. “Yes, Grandma. I’ll be right down.”

Marya has two younger brothers. While they mostly get along, sometimes they drive her crazy. When they are bugging her, she uses Big Sister Tax to bug them back. She waits until they are playing in their upstairs bedroom right before Grandma calls them to dinner and then blocks the top of the stairs with her body. She makes her brothers give her a hug on each step until they reach the bottom—twelve hugs. It’s a great form of revenge because no younger brother wants to hug their sister twelve times in a row!

Grandma was waiting for her in the kitchen. “Your brothers will someday be bigger and stronger than you, Marya. You will someday need their help as adults. Why don’t you work harder at being their friend instead of finding ways to frustrate and annoy them?”

Proverbs tells us that our brothers and sisters are intended to be there for us in times of trouble. Adult siblings can be some of our best friends because they grew up in the same house, understand us better than most other people, and often have really good advice when we’re not sure what to do.

Did you know that one of the best predictors of whether brothers and sisters will be friends as adults is how well they played together as children? Siblings who enjoy hanging out with one another and who make an effort to find things in common to do are more likely to be good friends as adults. Life can be really hard, but having friends who grew up in the same family (brothers and sisters) is important when life is tough.

Things to Think About

• How can you be a better friend to your siblings? If you don’t have a sibling, is there a stepsibling, cousin, or another relative near your age who you can treat like a friend?
• What common interests or hobbies can you share with your siblings or relative to start building a friendship?

DAILY ACT OF FRIENDSHIP

This week, start treating your siblings the same way you treat your best friend and see what happens.