Brothers and Sisters

I just felt so impressed on how my son Justin thinks  being a brother to his sisters. Over the past days, he’d been asking me to write something for his English class. But as a mother and as a teacher, I wanted him to do his own. I will only be there to help and guide him. Today, we finally sat down together  and had a brainstorming on what he’s going to write for his project. I asked him questions to guide him. I really wanted to know what he really thinks about being a brother. I was so amazed as how he compared things the way it should be. This is his write-up and I only helped him edit his piece of art. He talks about his three sisters and how he feels for each one of them.

Brothers and Sisters

By: Justin Uriel Maravilla-Arpilleda

            Brothers and sisters have their own different stories to tell. What is it like to be a brother? How do I get along with my sisters?

             To have siblings in the family is fun but at times, it’s not. One has to learn to share with the siblings especially to the little ones. The hardest to share is the attention we get from our parents. But it doesn’t mean we are not loved. Of course, we are all loved. And we need to understand that younger kids need more attention than we do. It’s so nice to take part in their growing up too. We learn to play fair and square, we learn to care for them and we don’t want to hurt them much as we don’t want Mom or Dad to punish us.

            My Ate Jo is six years older than me and I am six years older than my other two little sisters. I am their only brother. It’s so hard to keep in pace with them because of the gap of our ages. Sometimes, we’re best friends and sometimes we’re worst enemies. At times, I felt it wasn’t fair just because my sister is older, my sister can do better than me. But, it’s also great to be a younger brother. We get mad at each other a lot, but then we forget about it. I believe my big sister is the only person who understands how I feel. I hate her if she acts like a grown-up and we don’t have anything to talk about. I love her the most in times when she’s just like me.

            My younger sisters are too spoiled of my attention. I love them so much. I love to play with them if they played with my games but when they wanted me to play with their girlish games, then how I wish my Dad will take me with him to one of his mountain trips. Oftentimes, the two little girls like to play rough games with me and that’s where I have to show how I care for them. I tried not to be so harsh and hard in playing so they won’t get hurt.

            My dad used to tell us stories that when they were kids, he used to fight with his brother but they still liked each other the best. They’re grown-ups now and yet they still help each other a lot. On the other hand, Mom grew up alone with grandma, away from her other brothers and sisters. She used to say that it’s so nice to enjoy the company of your siblings. It’s a lot of fun where you will learn to care and to share, in food, toys or just anything around the house.

            Being away now from my sisters, I have learned so many things, I learned that even with our many differences, it doesn’t matter as long as we have each other to love and to hold. Enjoy every minute we can have with our brothers and sisters.

This is Justin, I am so happy about him. Children are blessed to have great parents but parents also feel proud and so blessed to have children as loving and thoughtful as he is. He just made it right as his name Justin Uriel which means “righteous judge.”  🙂