Importance of Blood Relatives - Essay Example

? 20 February, Essay about a relative My brother: Blood relatives play a decisive role in shaping our mentality and personality not just because they are genetically related to us, but also because we live with them, interact with them, learn a lot of things from them and also teach them a lot of things. Sometimes our relations become too strong and yet, there are times when confusions weaken the bond and we feel closer with strangers than our own blood relatives. Same has happened to me several times in my life. The relative I am going to talk about in this essay is none other than my younger brother, Jonny. I have one brother and two sisters in my family. Both of my parents belong to working class. My father is a lawyer and my mother is a doctor. I am the eldest among my siblings. In my very early years of life, when I was the only child of my parents, I was given a lot of attention. My parents focused their complete attention on me which made me feel special. I remember my cousin would tell me whenever we met that his brother fought with him over petty matters, and did not share his toys with him. That made me feel sorry for him, yet I was happy that I had no one to share my toys with. I agree that I sound quite selfish but that was a matter of the past when I was only four years of age. I think quite differently about my siblings now, as I am grown up! When I was four years old, one fine morning my mom and dad brought a baby with them and told me that he was my brother. I was surprised at this shocking yet exciting discovery. It was a moment of both pleasure and displeasure for me. I had mixed feelings towards my younger brother, Jonny. I envied him as my mother took him into her lap and my father sang him nursery rhymes. I watched him grow up. As more time passed, I realized Jonny had made a big impact upon my personal relationship with mom and dad. With Jonny to take care of, mom and dad would not give me half as much time as they used to give me when I was their only child. I should not say they intentionally did it. May be it is just as difficult for all parents to balance their attention between all of their children. May be parents just do as they feel is required. Perhaps mom and dad thought I was sufficiently grown up to take care of things and understand matters while Jonny required more attention. Anyway, I was disturbed by this change. It felt quite unpleasant. I was in the kindergarten and had started to go to school while Jonny would stay at home. Mom and dad did explain to me that he was younger, so he had to be at home and that I was old enough to go to school, but their explanation hardly ever convinced me. However, soon after I started to go to school, I found studies quite interesting. May be that was a means of escape from the tensions arising from my lost status at home or perhaps, studies were really quite interesting, but I loved my education anyway. Time passed away and I approached grade 4. It was also Jonny’s second year in school. He was not quite good in studies and mom and dad had had a tough time making him study. I remember in grade 4, I read a chapter in my course book that explained to me my responsibilities towards Jonny as an elder brother. It was a very thought provoking and eye opening chapter for me and I learnt some great lessons from that. Having read the chapter, I realized that I was not fulfilling even half of my duties as an elder brother. I had never helped Jonny in his studies. Somehow, in my subconscious, I knew that if I took slight interest in teaching Jonny, he would come on the right track. That day, I decided I would change my attitude towards Jonny. I decided to fulfill my duties as an elder brother. I can not exactly tell whether it was a way to get back mom and dad’s attention that I was so longing for, but I became a loving and responsible elder brother. I helped Jonny learn nursery rhymes. I taught him how to write alphabets, how to pronounce them, how to link alphabets so as to form words and how to read. It was a unique discovery but Jonny and I had a strange chemistry. Soon as I started to teach him, he immediately learnt all what mom and dad had been trying to teach him for months! Perhaps, it was our genetic similarity that I exactly knew the right points to hit in and make him take interest in studies, but my techniques worked and he stood first in his class by the end of the year. That was an accomplishment not only for Jonny, but I personally felt my efforts and had work rewarded. I loved the moments when mom and dad praised me as much as they did Jonny. They knew how hard I had tried to make Jonny hold the trophy. The following year, we went to New Zealand to enjoy our summer holidays. It was an opportunity for me to celebrate my newly found relationship with my parents and my brother. The psychological upsets had settled too much an extent and we had become a solid family by then. The following year, I had my twin sisters with me. This time, I did not envy them being in my mothers’ lap. I should not say it was Jonny’s turn to do that either. Ever since, I have been quite protective towards my younger siblings and take care of them as a parent. Jonny also respects me the same way. Read More