Dealing with younger siblings is not as easy as ABC

My mother used to say that as far as someone was older, even by seconds, he or she was in a good position to correct you. It was what I had in mind when I nagged my younger brother who I am 5 years older than, about the excessive use of his phone.

Source
When I came home after three years in boarding school, He was preparing for the West African Examination, but I had never seen him take out a notebook to read. He was always on his phone.

My mother was a busy woman, she spent 5 days in the week at the hotel where she worked as the head cook. Saturdays were her only rest days; she spent a great part of her Sundays in church and evening fellowships.

“He's not a baby, if he doesn't want to read his books, he will write WAEC next year.” My mother said when I spoke to her about it, but I didn't think that was something my brother should be allowed to take so lightly. He was still young, and intelligent, but that wasn't a reason good enough to be nonchalant about that aspect of his life.

He would lie on the couch all day, typing away at his screen. I was amazed to see that he had multiple batteries for his phone so even when there was poor power supply, he never ran out of battery.

I would have fallen silent since my mother didn't seem worried but this habit of his wasn't affecting his examination alone, it was affecting his entire life.

I stepped out one day to get some ingredients for the tomato sauce my mother asked me to make for dinner. I thought it would be faster if my brother assisted with the rice, so I asked him to boil some cups while I was out.

I was gone for only 45 minutes, but when I returned, there was smoke everywhere. Panic seized me causing the polythene bag I was holding to drop from my hands as I rushed into the house. I could hear my brother coughing loudly in the bathroom, so I pounded on the door, asking if he was okay. He emerged some minutes later with bloodshot eyes, completely drenched in sweat.

“What's going on here?”

He walked past me to sit on his favorite couch, then picked his phone to peruse through.

“The food got burnt” he replied when he could catch his breath. I stormed over to the kitchen to see things for myself. Apart from the acrid stench of burnt rice and the eye stinging smoke that hadn't cleared, I could see the insides of a blackened pot which must have contained the rice he was cooking.

“What happened to the rice you were cooking? Did you go out and leave it on fire?”

He shook his head, still engrossed with his phone. I snatched it from him in anger, demanding an explanation.

“Treasure, what's really your challenge?”

He was on his feet now, towering above me by four feet.

“What happened to the rice? I need an explanation!”

“I went in to use the toilet, it got burnt before I was done.”

“You were with your phone in that toilet” It wasn't a question. I shook my head and inserted the phone into my pocket.

“You are so irresponsible. I've never seen you read your books, you're always on your phone playing your life away. You cannot even assist in boiling rice for the house. Henceforth, you can only use this phone when I've confirmed that you're done reading for your exams…”

“Who are you to tell me when I use my phone and when I can't? Did you get it for me? Better return it o!”

In order not to infuriate myself, I walked out of the house for the smoke to clear out, calling my mom to report my brother’s behavior that afternoon as I walked down the street.

“Treasure, taking his phone was extreme. You know the way your brother is, he would never listen when you want to impose things on him. Return his phone when you get home, I'll address the issue when I'm back.”

I was unhappy that my mom was indirectly encouraging the insubordination, but I obeyed her. When she returned home, she asked my brother to apologize to me.

“I don't want an apology. I want him to take practical steps to becoming responsible….”

“Treasure, you're overdoing things….” I didn't hear the rest of what my mother said because I was busy making a mental note never to speak to my brother about spending excessive time on his phone again since she said I was overdoing it.

After all, whatever consequence he had to bear eventually, he would bear it alone.