I Speak For The Firstborn | Draw Your Swords!

Every little kids across the world has some kind of mystical fairy realm locked away inside of their imagination, just waiting for it to burst forth in an explosion of excitement. Meanwhile, most teenagers have a lot of built up boredom or stored energy from sleeping in until 3 P.M. during the weekend, and they need to get rid of it so they can fix their biological clocks. (Don’t try to defend your sleeping pattern, here. We all know.) 

So, let’s say you’re stuck watching your younger siblings over the weekend, or really any time of the week. Younger children are easily engaged in anything, and it doesn’t take much to amuse their minds. However, if you’re not doing anything to entertain those minds, they’re going to start bugging you. All older siblings have been there, and they know what kind of a pain it is to keep a level head when you have a five year old smearing peanut butter on the walls and a 12 year old whining of boredom. I have a simple fix.

A little bit of improvised acting goes for a long way of fun, especially for the young ones. Send them to world full of mermaids dragons. They’ll have fun pretending to slay the fire-breathing beast and saving the princess from her tower, and you may even get a few laughs out of the event. Train your battle ready siblings in “sword-to-sword” combat while tapping back into your creative side by making some weapons out of cardboard or Styrofoam that’s laying around. Use sheets and cushions to build a cave or a magnificent castle. Might I even add that your old clothes will make the perfect dress-up pieces for any young girl’s wardrobe?

Let your imagination run wild, because as long as everyone is having safe fun, no one’s going to be complaining. (Just make sure you clean up the messes along the way and demonstrate safe and proper battling techniques so no little ones get hurt.)

-Annie 

I Speak For The Firstborn | Brownies In A Cup

Being the firstborn, I know what it’s like to be in charge of watching a few younger (and often time annoying) siblings. “Why won’t they shut up and sit down?!” I get it. It’s frustrating and headache inducing. However, I’ve come to realize that when your younger siblings start to irritate you purposely, they just want you to pay attention to them. That’s all it is. You’re the oldest and they look up to you! Get off the computer and do something fun with them. They’ll thank you later, and you’ll be headache free. Not to mention, it’ll get your parents off of your “lazy back”. 

You may have seen this on a hobby site such as Pinterest. In fact, I’d like to thank my friend for pinning this, because I wouldn’t have been graced by its mouth-shutting glory without her. It’s very simple, kid safe, and money easy. In fact, you probably have all of the ingredients in your pantry.

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp. flour
• 4 tbsp. sugar
•  2 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 2 tbsp. water
• 1/3 tsp. vanilla (Or to your taste, because who doesn’t like a little extra vanilla?)

It’s kid friendly, because no oven is required! Just mix everything together and pour it into a microwave safe coffee mug and pop it into the microwave for a minute. Voila! You’ve interacted with the little demons AND their mouths will be occupied by yummy brownie long enough for you to gather your wits. 

-Annie