Family Matters

Family Matters

            In this blog, I will focus on the importance of the most important institution in one’s life, the Family. The family helps shape the personality of an individual, their morals, and many more vital aspects of a person’s life. In this blog I’m going to focus on one family member in particular, my older brother Jake.

            To start off, the importance of an older sibling is astronomical in one’s life. They help guide and provide vital knowledge to their younger sibling. Growing up Jake was by far my best friend. Everyday we would either play video games, sports, or just make up random games to play. He would always include me in the games him and his friends were playing, which made me feel as if I was one of them. As I got older the significance of my brother in my life kept on growing. Once I hit high school I was very nervous because I was just a freshman at a great big school. At this same time my brother was a senior at the same school and captain of the varsity baseball team. My brother was so nice to me and really showed me the way until I got enough confidence to start making my own friends and making a name for myself. When you have an older brother that is pretty popular among its peers, there may be a lot of issue that can get me in trouble This was not the case in my own life experience. According to a study done by Richard Needle, the head of the Social Science Department at the University of Minnesota, “Older siblings are frequently a source of drugs and use substances with their younger siblings”. This was defiantly not the case for me! If I ever would have asked my brother for drugs, or even brought them up in front of him, he would probably beat me up. I think he did this because he knows that there is no good that comes out of drug use, and he wants to do everything in his power to make sure I succeeded in life. In my opinion the most important function of the family is to look out for one another, and I think my brother does this as best as he possibly can.

            Another article written by Dr. Kenneth McConnochie talks about the risk of having an older sibling that smokes cigarettes, and the very high percentile that this bad habit will be passed down to their younger sibling. Luckily for me, Jake was responsible and never got in the habit of smoking cigarettes. I am very grateful for this because I have a very addictive personality, and I feel as if I saw Jake smoking cigarettes then I would feel like it is okay for me to smoke too.

            In conclusion, the importance of an older sibling that is responsible, caring, and always looks out for their younger brother may be the most important factor in my life so far. I always think of my brother as my role model and try to be like him in a lot of ways. Even know when he is of age to drink legally, and I’m still a year short, He always makes sure it is a good environment to keep me safe.

Links to Websites

1.     http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10826088609027390

2.     http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=513020