My 7-year-old sister Kayli and I rode bikes on our way to the park. Still, being the older brother that I am, I was being very overprotective of her, constantly reminding her to look both ways on the street and telling her to slow down when she got even a couple of inches ahead of me. We rode steadily until we got close to a small hill; at that point, I noticed that she was becoming visibly frustrated with me as I kept slowing her down, so I asked her if she wanted to race, and her face lit up with excitement. So we raced down the path until I noticed that she seemed to be gaining a lot of speed. I began to warn her, but she ignored me and kept peddling, soon, there was a six-foot gap between us, and as we got closer to the top hill, I began to worry. Panic kicked in as she'd never gone down a hill without training wheels, so as she teetered on the top, I frantically peddled over to her, worried she would fall. I tried to catch up to her until I saw her zoom down the hill. A sense of relief dawned on me as I realized she had successfully biked down the hill without crashing. So there she was, waiting for me at the bottom, giggling and feeling proud of herself with what I think had to be a bit of adrenaline still in her system. I rushed down the hill, getting ready to scold her and tell her what could've happened when I was suddenly launched into the air and, more importantly, onto the cold hard pavement. My shoulder was the first part of my body to make contact with the ground, and as a result, my head came second, slamming down on the pavement, and there I lay. My sister sprinted over to me, frantically asking me if I was okay. I was less than okay, having scraped my shoulder on the gritty asphalt, but I nodded, and she helped me get up; as soon as I stood up, she began circling my body, inspecting it, looking for more injuries and before I could take a step she walked me over to a nearby bench. She set me down, refusing to let me walk to it myself. For that moment, she was my older sister, the overprotective sibling.

Though being protective of the people you love and care for is something natural we do to protect those we love, we have to remember that there's a thin line to walk when being protective and overbearing. We have to show enough care for them to ensure they're safe, but we also need to give them enough space to explore, grow and fail. We should also never underestimate people; even out of love and fear of them getting hurt, people don't become better or grow without failing.

Instead of stunting my sister's growth out of fear of seeing her fail or get hurt, I always encourage her to try her best, and when she falls, I make sure, and I'm always there to help her get back up, just as she helped me get back up.