Quarantine — a time for relaxation, solitude, peace and self-isolation… right? Well WRONG, not when you have two older brothers, two younger brothers and a little sister. Growing up with so many siblings, I grew accustomed to the loud noises and learned how to thrive despite the chaos. But that all changed when I went away to school. While at school, I got used to being in my own little bubble away from the distractions and noise because there wasn’t so much going on but being back definitely taught me that I took the quietness for granted. Being back home has slowly begun to drive me insane and it’s definitely not how I thought my freshman year would end.
I cannot count on two hands the number of times I’ve been interrupted during a Zoom lecture call or had to chase my sister around after she took my homework and ran. Despite how cute she may be, the cuteness effect fades away as she scribbles across my homework in pen or when she screams Nae-Nae at the top of her lungs because I’m not giving her attention (who am I kidding she could never stop being cute, but that’s beside the point). I love her, I honestly do and I missed her when I was away. But I’m sure we can all relate to that feeling you get when your younger siblings have gotten you to the point of no return (and I had reached that point over two weeks ago).
If that’s not bad enough, we then have my younger brothers, whose mission is to do whatever they can to annoy me. Since they are also out of school and currently bored out of their minds, their primary form of entertainment is to mess with their big sister. They take pleasure in the fact that they can get a reaction out of me and we all know no one can get under your skin more than a younger sibling. For example, I have a few very specific pet peeves that can instantly change my mood, and they know this, so these are the first thing they do to bother me. Some of these pet peeves include unnecessary touching like awkwardly long hugs even though I just saw five minutes ago or when they try and hold me down or if I’m doing something important like an essay and they think that it’s the perfect time to play 101 questions.
On top of all of this, then we have my older brothers. To them, I’m not an adult attending college but rather their annoying little sister that they think they can still boss around. Just last week, my brother told me, “why are you drinking coffee, what do you think you’re grown?’ I simply replied yes because I am and because I want to… he didn’t take my sarcastic response very well. My other brother thought I was changing because I wanted to stop by Starbucks, so I’m not really sure when it’s going to click in their heads that I’m not a little kid anymore.
If you’re like me and your siblings have been driving you crazy too, here are my current methods to avoid the madness that is my household:
- Isolate yourself whether it’s locking your room door or going to a secluded part of your house.
- Play music really loudly to block out their voices.
- Pin them against each other, so they’re too busy arguing to bother you.
- If all else fails, annoy them back because they most likely deserve it.
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