How am I supposed to Please my parents AND enjoy myself??

I've always been a good little girl, listening to what mummy and daddy say. I've always gotten good grades at school, I can't remember the last time I failed a subject, if I ever did.
I've always made nice friends you know, I've never shoplifted, never done drugs you know. That kind. Complete goody good two shoes.
But sometimes I wonder if it's a bad thing?

If I wasn't SO good all the time, then maybe my parents would have had some sort of experience when it comes to dealing with children who don't listen. Maybe they would have been more prepared for my younger brother's lack of interest in school. Maybe if I wasn't such a push over, I would have more of an active social life than i do now.

Uhgh it's so horrible. I'm a teenage girl, we all want to hang out with our friends every now and then WITHOUT having to bring a younger sibling to tag along. I mean my friends are great, they really don't mind. But I seriously do. I'm always having to concentrate on HIM, not on having fun. which therefore defys the whole purpose of the outing.

And then, in the odd chance that I do get to go out without my brother, as soon as i come home, something's wrong. A parent is 'too tired' or, the car has broken down and another parent is left stranded or soemthing. And the usual phrase ALWAYS pops up: "You know, this would never have happened if you were more considerate and stayed home, instead of insisting to go out"

That is beyond unfair. Yes, I wanted to go out, but I never insisted so and so had to take me! There are buses, I have money, I have legs and I have a brain. It's really not that hard, and if I didn't know any better, i'd say that it was even fun!

Living in a prison however is only part of it. The other part is constantly being forced to teach my brother. Okay I know, it's NATURAL for siblings to help each other out. of COURSE I want to help him out for goodness sakes! How am I supposed to be happy when he's failing school??
And I also know there are absolute geniuses out there who can juggle up to 10 extra-cirricular things at once, top their class in every subject, AND still teach their younger siblings in their free time. I have reminded my parents more than enough times that I am NOT a genius. Those perfect grades are REALLY hard work you know, and even though I don't have up to 10 extra things, I do take one of my extra cirriculars VERY seriously.
I have TRIED to teach my brother, I really really honestly have. English didn't work, so I tried maths, and that was slightly better. But he's in this self obsessed stage where he thinks everything HE says is right. He just doesn't want to HEAR what i'm teaching him.
Stubborness, Arrogance. ARUGH

You know those genius' I mentioned before? Well their siblings probably WANTED to learn, they ASKED for help and therefore got it. When has my brother ever asked me for help willingly? Is it because of pride? Or is he simply not interested??

My parents are always telling me to think 'creatively' Honestly, I have. I use lollies when teaching him about addition and subtraction. I think he's more interested in the lollies than the actual process.
My father once had this massive screamo at me basically warning me that if my brother didn't know all his upper and lower case letters by the end of the month that I would get everything taken away from me, cellphone, laptop, mp3, etc.
I really don't find that fair, do you? How am I supposed to do my homework?
Enough about me, back to the brother here, All he does literally, is sit in front of the TV and watch cartoons [Chinese TV] and yea, that would me his chinese would slowly improve as well, but right now, everyone's basically focused on teaching him what he needs to survive here. In NZ. therefore Chinese really isn't required at the moment.

His teachers all say he's a wonderful boy at school, but that's because he's at school! He doesn't have Me there, or any other family for that matter, it's his own part of his life you know?
It's just like how I like school better than home, it's my place. I know that just sounded really sad but uhgh.
His teachers then expect him to do the homework set for him, which I really do encourage him to do, but he just won't listen to me. He's better with Mum, but mum can hardly handle day after day tutoring him. I don't blame her, I can't even stand 1 hour.
But I would do it for him if he wanted help you know.

I've used praises and encouragement, building his self esteem and etc. I've tried setting up the 'tutoring' sessions as school classes, writing on a whiteboard and handing out stickers and stuff... I've tried getting him to do physical activities like jumping, running around and etc. Nothing is working!
Or rather, Nothing interests him!!!

Does ANYONE know of a better way for me to deal with this dilehma? I'm only fifteen! I've barely started form 5, and yet I'm expected to professionally teach a primary school kid, who really does need professional help. How am I supposed to know how his brain works? Nothing I do ever works, it could be my relationship with him, because i'm close enough for him to tease me and etc. and because it's natural for siblings to fight.
Uhgh.. I really don't know.
If you can help me, in anyway whatsoever, Please PLEASE leave a comment. Your thoughts are much appreciated. xxx

Oh yeah.. sorry this was all blabbing and stuff....
February 7th, 2009 at 09:41am