Reply #25: at 12, I would say that your brother is [View All]

[R. A. Fuqua]

old enough for you to sit him down and have a talk with him--about his behaviour--and the consequences of it (ie--that now you don't trust him, and are going to lock up your stuff etc).

It could be that a talk (if done carefully and appropriately) will do him a lot of good. At that age, lots of times kids are testing boundaries--when adults respond by setting clear and appropriate boundaries is something that the child usually ends up appreciating--if not then--later when they are more mature.

Good luck--dealing with family can suck.

I have a MOTHER (nearly 70 years old) who still snoops through my stuff. (She has had this bad habit all my life). Now THAT is a serious problem. When I was a child I would leave nasty notes for her--ie--I would hide little notes in my things that said things like--whoever finds this note is cursed. She would always go crazy when she found them--weeping and brandishing them to my father--demanding that I be punished--while all the while denying going through my things (the only way she could have found the notes). My nother is a real head case. When I visit them--she STILL does the same old routine of going through everything that I own whenever my back is turned. I would love to have a child to deal with--maybe they would listen to reason.