It’s National Siblings Day!

NATIONAL SIBLINGS DAY

National Siblings Day (also referred to as Sibling Day) is observed on April 10.  It is a day created to honor our brothers and our sisters.

Siblings. They are sometimes our best friends or our worst enemies. At times, siblings will provide us with our biggest competition, strongest encouragement and remind us of our most embarrassing moments.

Fictional characters describe those siblings best who are both rivals and yet are best friends. In The Hunger Games, Katniss puts her life on the line to save her sister Prim. Both Bo and Luke Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard risked their lives for each other. Author Beverly Cleary’s Beezus and Ramona’s longtime love-hate relationship between siblings depicted a normal childhood filled with angst.

Real life royal siblings Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret had a different set of rules to follow making their relationship quite different from anything we would call normal. Being a queen will do that.

Queen Elizabeth’s grandsons, Princes William and Harry and William’s children, too have royal sibling relationships that engage the world.

Playing fictional characters who are siblings and being siblings in front of a television audience must have created a different lifestyle for Mary Kate and Ashley Olson. Their older sister is Elizabeth.

Another pair of sibling actors is Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty.

There have been plenty of presidents with siblings as well. George W. Bush has five siblings and William Jefferson Clinton has three.

How many siblings do you have? Are you rivals or do you support each other in all you do?

HOW TO OBSERVE

Spend some time with your sibling(s).  Enjoy looking at photos and videos of time spent with your sibling(s).   Play a song or two from the 35 Best Sister Songs list.  Use #NationalSiblingsDay to post on social media.

HISTORY

National Siblings Day was founded by native New Yorker, Claudia Evart in 1995 to honor and celebrate siblings.  After losing her two siblings early in life in separate accidents, she knew how important siblings could be in our lives.

Claudia created the Siblings Day Foundation (SDF), a tax-exempt organization, whose goals included the establishment of National Siblings Day.  Claudia selected April 10 in honor of her late sister, Lisette’s birthday.  Visit the website for more National Siblings Day information at  http://www.siblingsday.org/.

NATIONAL ENCOURAGE A YOUNG WRITER DAY

Observed each year on April 10th is National Encourage a Young Writer Day.  Do you know a young person who has a vivid imagination, maybe someone who likes to tell stories and reads a lot of books?  These may be the signs of a great young writer.

National Encourage a Young Writer Day would be a good time to talk to them about their ideas and dreams.  Encourage them to pursue their goals and develop their writing skills.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Ways to support a young writer:

• Give a journal.  A journal provides a place to for daily writing.  From short poems to inspired essays, this is a place young writers can feel free to stretch their wings unjudged.
• Offer writing prompts.  These random bits of inspiration can come from the most unlikely sources but often generate unexpected results.  Prompts are available all over the web, as well as in books and apps.
• Encourage them to read.  The more they read, their experience with writing and writers will expand.
• Have young writers try multiple writing styles and different voices. Changing perspective will keep their writing fresh, allowing them an opportunity to find their personal style.
• Create a young writers group.  It’s a good way see their story from the reader’s point of view and to receive feedback from peers.

Give a young writer some encouragement and use #EncourageAYoungWriterDay to post on social media.

Educators, visit the National Day Calendar Classroom to see a lesson to Encourage A Young Writer, too!