by Melissa Roe

Created on: May 29, 2009

Siblings have a natural instinct to protect one another. As children it can be from a neighborhood or school bully. Even if your younger brother instigates trouble, you are always there to help defend him in any manner necessary.

As adults, the time has come to stop being so protective. You need to realize that your grown up brother is capable of making decisions on his own, and those decisions carry consequences with them. The only way for your little brother to learn how to deal with real life, is to allow him to live and learn. You are no longer able to protect him from the world.

Trying to baby-sit a brother who is 24 years old will only cause you unnecessary stress in your own life. You can give him advice to help him make the right decisions, but only he can follow through with the appropriate actions to make his life better. You cannot be the keeper of his life. Although you want what is best for him, the time has come for you to take a step back from the situation and respect how your brother chooses to live his life.

Each and every one of us has to be able to fall down, and get back up. If we always have someone there to catch us when we fall, nothing will ever be learned. It is important for people to listen to the advice of more experienced people and take into consideration how it can impact our own life. Sometimes family members are not so willing to follow the advice of someone who is close to them. It is also equally important not to be the one standing there saying I told you so when the situation doesn't turn out how it should.

Be supportive of your younger brother, but don't try to run his life. This can make him more distant from you, making him feel like you are trying to be more of a parent figure, rather than an older brother. Listen to his situations and concerns, offer bits of advice, but allow him to be an independent person.

They older he gets the more he will realize that you only have his best interests at heart. He will also come to find out that much of that advice you once gave him would have greatly changed the outcome for certain situations. He will become wise to the fact that you know more than he would like to believe, and he is more likely to listen to future advice you give him.

Don't try to baby-sit a 24 year old brother. He is an adult and should be treated as such. Allow him to make his own decisions and he will respect you much more for it in the long run.

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