Ah, siblings. You hate them and you love them. In my family I'm the oldest of three - I have two younger brothers. Believe it or not, younger siblings do a lot for you, in ways they probably don't even know (and I don't only mean getting on your nerves). If you grew up with younger brothers or sisters, or if you are the oldest in your family, I'm sure you're going to relate to pretty much all of the things I'm about to talk about.

1. Thanks for playing games I wanted to play even when you didn't want to.

Being the oldest kid in the family does have its perks, like getting to decide what game we get to play. But, there were times when I'm sure my brothers didn't want to play with stuffed animals or got tired of constantly playing house. But, they played with me anyways (or because they had nothing better to do). And for that, I want to say thank you.

2. Thanks for looking up to me and making me feel important.

Believe it or not, the fact that I knew that you looked up to me while we were growing up played a huge part in developing my confidence. Just knowing that my little brothers secretly thought I was their hero made me feel so happy and gave me reason to be the best person I could be.

3. Thanks for listening to me complain.

I know you probably could've cared less about whatever I needed to vent to you about, but I'm glad you at least acted like you were listening to me. All I really needed was for someone to listen to me when I was upset, and you did the job perfectly.

4.Thanks for teaching me responsibility.

Having younger siblings really helped me learn responsibility, especially when mom/dad left me in charge when they had to leave the house for any reason. A big reason as to why a majority of the family calls me the "second mom" is because I felt the need to make sure my brothers followed the rules of the house and didn't let them take advantage of the times when I had to babysit.

5. Thanks for reminding me to have fun.

Whenever I felt stressed from school and homework, you were always there to take fun breaks with me. You made sure I didn't forget how young I was, and made sure I always had fun and enjoyed myself. So thanks for those basketball/soccer games in front of the house, for playing hide and seek with the neighbors, for chasing the ice cream man to get our ice cream, and for always being in the mood to have fun with me.

6. Thanks for going to things with me even when you didn't want to.

This is a big one. There were countless occasions where I wasn't allowed to go to certain things if I didn't bring one of my brothers along with me. For example, I wanted to go to one of my friend's high school graduation (which was in a different state, meaning I would have to drive) and the only way I could go was if my brother Marcus came with me. Even though I'm sure he didn't want to spend the day with me traveling and being at this person's party, he went cause he knew it would make me happy. Thanks, bro.

7. Thanks for always being in the mood to gossip.

Whether it be about friends or family, my younger siblings were always down to gossip and laugh. It was awesome, because I knew no matter what drama was going on I could always go to my brothers and talk if I couldn't talk to my friends about it.

8. Thanks for coming to me for advice when you couldn't go to Mom and/or Dad.

Whenever you had any issues that you needed to talk about and knew you couldn't talk to either Mom or Dad, thanks for choosing to talk to me about it. You could've talked to so many other people (friends, coaches, etc) and the fact that you came to me (and knowing that you actually cared about what I felt towards your problems) really made me feel special.

9. Thanks for creating our own secret language we can use just by looking at each other.

No matter what age my brothers were, we always had this connection without speaking. When my youngest brother was born I ended up being the only one who could understand what he was trying to say, before he could talk. Who says you need words to talk to your siblings?

10. Thanks for letting me manipulate you to do stupid stuff.

Remember that time in your life where whatever I said, you thought it was cool, which made you feel like you had to do it to be cool too? Like how I told you that cool kids pee on trash cans and pretty much made you my guinea pig? Sorry I confused you and made you do stuff that you ended up getting in trouble for, but thanks for letting me have some fun messing with you.

11. Thanks for being brutally honest.

I knew I could always ask for your honest opinion about something. You always gave me the cold, hard truth (even when I didn't want you to) which was good because sometimes I needed to hear the truth, and you always let me have it.

12. Thanks for hanging (hiding) out with me at family events.

Sometimes you and I got in these moods throughout the night where we were just kind of done talking to family and just wanted to be with each other. I could always count on you whenever I got bored or wanted to find a quiet place to hang out. And when we get asked questions we really don't want to talk about, you always chime in and try and change the subject for my sake, and vice versa.You and me, we're always in it together.

13. Thanks for always having my back.

No matter what, we have each other's back. If someone (or a family member) was picking on my younger siblings at school, I set them straight. And if my siblings knew a secret or something I didn't want anyone else to know, they gave me their word. Thanks for being someone I can always count on.

14. Thanks for scaring me whenever you had the chance.

My siblings constantly tried (and most of the time succeeded) to scare me because they know I get scared easily. Since they prank and scare me all the time, it keeps me on my toes which is a good skill to have. So your plan back fired, I win.

15. Thanks for fighting with me.

Everyone goes through that period growing up where you and your sibling(s) are constantly fighting and saying how much you hate each other; it's a right of passage. The fact that we could handle each other at our worst and still end up hanging out at home created the wonderful friendship we have today. Those couple of years were worth the decades of memories we have now and what we're going to have in the future.

16. Thanks for accepting me for who I am.

I never have to act like someone I'm not whenever I'm around my brothers. I'm always comfortable around them and I know that they will never judge me (that much) for who I am.

17. Thank you for being my best friend.

Thanks for being the best brothers/friends I could've ever asked for.

PS. Sorry for the sappy thank you article, I give you permission to make fun of me whenever you want.