Your little brother copies how you talk to Mom. You’re leading even on days you didn’t apply for the job.

Younger siblings learn the tone of a house from whoever is above them, not from the rules. How you answer your mother at the end of a bad day is being recorded by somebody who will try it next week and find out whether it works. There was no appointment and no training. The job came with being born first.

Pick one exchange this week to do well on purpose, probably the one you usually do badly. Answer the question the first time, or say thanks for the lift. You are not performing for an audience; you are showing somebody smaller what normal looks like.