One day you realize you’re the older cousin now, and the little ones are watching how you act at family parties.

Nobody tells you when the role switches. One year you are in the kids’ room, and the next there is a seven-year-old orbiting you, copying how you talk and whether you bother saying hello to the aunts. They are not listening to your advice. They are watching what you do when you think it does not count.

At the next family thing, give the youngest one ten real minutes. Ask about the game, learn the name of the character. You will have forgotten it by the drive home, and there is a decent chance they will not.