Your little brother isn’t listening to your advice. He’s studying how you talk to Mom.

Younger kids take in behavior long before they take in instruction. The tone you use with your parents, the way you handle being told no, how you speak about someone who is not in the room: that is the lesson being absorbed, whether you meant to teach it or not. Advice is easy to ignore; behavior is harder to unsee.

Choose one moment this week when a younger sibling or cousin is in earshot and handle it the way you would want them to handle it. You do not have to be perfect in front of them. Being decent when it is inconvenient is enough.