Final draft

Shanelle Maldonado                                                                                       March 21, 2012

                                                                   My Goal

Little sisters, yay! There’s always a pretty painted picture when it comes to beings a big sister. Some make it seem perfect; others make it seem like the worst thing in the world. I would say it's the most complicated, fun, frustrating journey to take. It's not that bad but dealing with "you’re not the boss of me" makes it a little less tolerable. I enjoy being an older sister to my little people but sometimes it gets serious and I think I’ve been handling it the wrong way. So my Goal is to figure out a way to get closer to my sister and grow a better relationship with her.
       I have two younger sisters and one younger brother. Chalynne is 12, Shania is 6 and Shawn is 5. Chalynne has hit an age where she knows it all and she thinks she's already to mature for the park and toys r us. She gets embarrassed by anything and she has to look cute with everything she does. This irks me a whole lot. I feel like she's growing up a little too fast and I'm not ready for it. When i was 12 I was into pony tails, sneakers, jeans and a t shirt. She's into leggings (super tight jeans ), a fancy shirt and her hair has to be perfectly styled. This doesn't bother me as much because she could just really be into fashion and looking nice in general. But it's just how she comes about it that worries me and I always react in an aggressive way.

My dad is over protective with me and I feel like that kind of transferred over and I'm just doing the same to her. My sister has a little attitude and it bothers me because she doesn’t really respect my authority, I'm not her mother but I don’t try to be, I just want to be the perfect big sister. It's hard to discipline and be kind at once when she's constantly trying to be your older sister. I have to find a way to be loving but still able to discipline. She doesn’t act her age and I feel like she's looking for attention in the wrong places. I need to start giving her the support and attention she's looking for but it's hard when she comes out her mouth and try's to act up. She's 12 but she tries to be 16. She’s always going around trying to impress.

            I want to be able to have a close bond with her and still have the kind of relationship where she trusts me but always respects my authority. I know that I have to work hard at this goal because she does look up to me so I have to not only grow a better relationship with her but I have to make sure my life style is appropriate and right so that she can have an idea as to where she should go with her life and what to bringing and take out of hers. I haven’t been that great of a sister and I have to admit. I’ve been into my own thing and trying to get out and have fun I feel like I abandoned her and haven’t fit the “big sister” title.

My goal is to try my best and win her back. She’s 12, a 7^th grader in Entrada academy. Whenever I pick her up from school all I see are little girl showing off skin, hair dyed, piercing in places I didn’t know existed. It bothers me because these are the people she is around most of her time and they aren’t a good influence at all. I know its hard at that age to stay “innocent” or good. Per pressure sucks and the kids are mean. I was bullied in middle school so I know what it must be like for her. But I didn’t have an older sister to run to or to talk to and ask questions. She does! But it’s like she doesn’t, and it hurts because I know she needs me.

This is extremely important to me because I know that my little sisters future will depend on her childhood, so now’s the time to make things happen for her and to protect her psychically and spiritually. I have to start talking to her more and asking her more questions to show her that I care. I know that I like to talk and I like when someone listens to me cause it just shows that there’s interest in my life and what goes on in it so I feel like asking her about her day or just randomly speaking to her more would lighten up the shade in between us and we’ll be able to become closer.

I’m scared that if  I don’t grab her now I’ll lose her to all this wildness that’s going on now with these little girls and that’s the last thing I want. I need my sister to trust me and I’m going to try everything I can to get this done. I need to pick her up from school more, take her out and invited her when I go out. So that she can see that I’m not pushing her away or it’s not that I don’t want her around I just haven’t been doing it.

Learning to be a good older sister is harder than I expected and I know she would treat our younger siblings the way I was with her so my behavior change will let her see that there’s a better way to deal with each other and work as a unit because we are all we have and it starts with me.