Welcome to May 19, 2012, also known as the worst day of my life, or so I thought. The first night of a Disney vacation took an ugly turn, all thanks to a cake. The hideous cake came out to my dinner table with the words “we are having a baby!” My face turned red with rage, the only thing I could think of was how much I hated this. Apparently in my twelve year old brain, my mother telling me that she was pregnant was the end of my world as I knew it. I do not like surprises, never have and never will, but my family surprised me. They surprised me with another human, which I never asked for.

Now, the so called monster is five years old, and the light of my life. Just the other day, I was making cookies for my Come Lord Jesus group when my little sidekick eagerly hopped on the counter to help. He asked in the sweetest voice, “Sissy, who are these for?” I explained that they were for my friends, and I had to save them for the next day. He helped me pack the cookies into a yellow tupperware container, and left them on the counter, so I would remember them in the morning. When I woke up, there were two bright yellow tupperware containers waiting on the counter, instead of the one I left the night before. My mom later told me that after I went to bed, my brother asked if he could bake cookies for his friends like his sissy did. He packed them in the same container and left them in the same place that I did. This small act of baking cookies made me realize how much these little eyes are actually watching me.

Growing up, especially in the teenage years, I remember people telling me that I am the role model that my siblings look up to. I never put much thought into it, because I did not really care what my siblings thought of me. But it was never about what they thought of me, but it was about what I was teaching them. For example, whenever I blow up on my parents just because I am having a bad day teaches my siblings that it is okay to take out their anger on other people. The reaction says everything about the situation, and what the little ones take from it.

No matter how old you are, there are going to people who are younger than you watching everything you do, whether you know it or not. You could either build these kids up to be amazing, caring people, or you could break these children down and destroy their childhood. The older generation molds the younger ones into who they are or who they wish they could have been, good or bad. We go about our lives unconscious that people are watching us, but it is up to us to decide how we should go about living the most exemplary life.