10 Signs You’re in A Love-Hate Relationship With Your Younger Sibling

1. You fight on a regular basis.

Not a day passes without you pissing each other off. You may be surprised to find out how chaotic your room has become as you discover that they used your belongings without your permission. But often, it is your simple exchange of pranks that causes your immature fights—which last for the whole day (or worse, days).

2. You always feel protective of them whenever they get into a fight.

As much as you are used to getting into a fight with your sibling, it angers you to see someone bullying them. You often feel the urge to protect them when they get into a fight.

3. You take every opportunity to get back at them.

As an older sibling, you have more possessions than your sibling; that is why they like to use them, even if you never gave them your permission to do so. To get back at them, you take their things either to destroy them or hide them somewhere. Sometimes you even do crazier things like putting a spoonful of salt in their food or locking them inside the bathroom. Seeing how successful you are in pissing off your sibling gives you happiness.

4. You feel guilty once you’ve had your revenge.

It feels so rewarding once you’ve succeeded in getting revenge. But that feeling only lasts for a short time because seeing them helpless after what you’ve done makes you regret doing it.

5. You love to rub their insecurities and weaknesses in their face.

We all have our own insecurities and weaknesses, no matter how perfect we seem in the eyes of other people. Your sibling may be one of the coolest or popular people in school, but nobody knows them better than you do. At the height of your emotions (during a fight with them), you use their insecurities and weaknesses as a weapon to blackmail them—and that, my dear, is how you win the fight.

6. You feel sad whenever they lose their self-confidence.

You may not have the best sibling in the whole world, but you, more than anyone, know their full potential and capabilities. That is why seeing them fail hurts you. The only thing you can do is cheer them up and encourage them to keep trying.

7. You enjoy it when your parents reprimand them.

Don’t you just love it when your sibling helplessly stands in front of your parents and gets grounded? You are free to do the things you want to do without worrying about how your sibling would ruin it. And the best part of it is that you will be able to enjoy a moment of peace and silence.

8. You take pity on them and help them sneak out.

Visiting your sibling’s room while they are grounded is a no-no. It would only make you pity them, which will put you in a difficult situation. Letting them sneak out would mark the end of your peaceful day, and to add onto that, you may also be reprimanded and grounded yourself. But knowing the consequences doesn’t change your mind; you make yourself believe that they would do the same for you if you were in their shoes. (Ha! Only then will you realize how wrong you were!)

9. You promise yourself never to trust them with your secrets.

Trusting your sibling with your secrets has never crossed your mind, because you know how they would use them against you.

10. But you tell them anyway.

No matter how much your sibling annoys you, you can never truly hate them, as they are a part your crazy, colorful life. And while you hate to admit it, their absence makes you miss them. Your day would never be complete without them around; as much as you hate how much they tease you or pull pranks on you, you feel that they are one of the few people whom you can truly trust and rely on.