No one knows you better than your siblings. They’re your best friends and your emotional support people when you can’t confide in your parents. Despite this, it’s still sibling nature to want to annoy and harass them.

Ever since the beginning of time, doing something to bother your siblings has been true for all. It’s almost as if it’s instinctual or a part of human nature. I have no idea where the whole concept originated for me. There’s a similar experience amongst all people when children begin to be obnoxious. From what I see, most of this obnoxious behavior gets directed towards a sibling.

I have two siblings myself: an older brother (18), and a twin sister, (15). For years, we have supported one another through all our achievements and struggles. A three-children family dynamic is different from others. You can team up with one sibling against another. You can create a democracy to make decisions. And, somebody is always left out (which is sometimes an advantage). As my dad always says, a yes or no question has three answers: yes, no, and maybe.

So, here are some of the following ways you can torment your sibling:

1. Harass them about their dating life. The best ego destroyer is absolutely going off about their nonexistent dating life. Societal standards suggest that everyone should find a partner. And, with all the teenage hormones thrown in, those feelings become much stronger. The pressure as a teen finally becomes real. Unless your sibling is together with someone, that part of their life is very vulnerable. Thus this is a perfect thing to taunt your sibling for.
2. Copy and repeat everything they do. There is no better way to annoy your siblings than by copying them. There are two ways to be annoying to your siblings: in my house, I’m known as the annoying sibling. I don’t need to put in any effort to be obnoxious – it’s just my personality shining through. The second method is intentional annoyance – you need to put in effort to be obnoxious. By repeating every action they do, pissing off a sibling is something you can guarantee.
3. Watch your and your sibling’s favorite movie or TV show without them. I’m unfortunately a victim of this. It is the most gut-wrenching act of betrayal that I’ve ever faced. Only when I could finally begin to tolerate my siblings did they continue with a movie or TV show, without me. I felt excluded and unloved. We’re not on the same page anymore, and because they’re now ahead of me, we can’t talk about it with each other! It’s a cruel world out there…so do this if you want petty revenge on your sibling. I guarantee it’ll break their hearts. 🙂
4. Invade their space without any warning. This especially applies to teenagers. Adolescence made me want my own space. This is how I finally got my own bedroom after sharing one with my twin sister for over ten years. There is nothing I hate more than somebody coming into my room with no warning whatsoever. To barge into your sibling’s space, you must go into their room at a very inconvenient time. Like when they’re either taking a nap or when their ADHD is at its highest and they’re focused on a specific task. You don’t want to look foolish, so you must consider various outcomes and approaches to barge into their space.
5. Hold their phone hostage. Nowadays, phones are so dear and precious to us. It’s how we connect and communicate with the world beyond our physical limitations. There is no better way to manipulate your sibling than by bribing them for their phone back. You can use that manipulation to bribe them into doing things for you. This could be doing your chores, forcing them to be nice to you, or eating some of their food. Note: Taking their phone may be the most difficult part of this prank. Now to be even more petty, even after they do various tasks for you, continue to keep the phone hostage.
6. Psychologically torture them by moving their things around. This isn’t always the easiest kind of psychological torture to pull off. A universal trait that most people have is a dislike of others touching their things. It’s almost like an intruder in an animal’s territory. They don’t like their spaces (especially materialistic things) invaded. Sure, it’s petty to move their things around, but what’s even more petty is putting them back later. For example, take their laptop and hide it until they can’t find it. Then when they aren’t looking, move it back. It’s the perfect way to gaslight them into being delusional. You do this enough times and your sibling will think they’re crazy.
7. Act cringy. The most effective way for me to torment my siblings is by acting cringe in front of them. Sure it hurts my ego, but their face-covered reactions are always worth it. Here are three ways to act cringe in front of your siblings: 1. Using lingo from another generation. Using slang and vocabulary from a generation that isn’t yours is weird. Saying things like “groovy” or “sigma” will cringe everybody out. The second way is by dancing to 2020 TikTok dances. We’ve all left 2020 behind, including the dances. There’s nothing more embarrassing than dancing to Renegade or Savage Love. The third way is to act or portray something obscure. This could include making certain, obnoxious noises, or falling out of social norms. In general, acting “weird” tends to effectively embarrass the people around you.

The joy of tormenting somebody can be very thrilling. I, for one, love to inflict things on my siblings that they don’t enjoy. There are so many ways to get your sibling between your fingers. It’s a part of who we are as a sibling to psychologically bother each other and be obnoxious. It’s a simple yet effective way of bringing joy and thrill into your life. Deep down, we all love our siblings, but the cherry on top of a great sibling dynamic is torment. 🙂