Title: Big Brother, Little Sister
Author: Witi Ihimaera
This short story made me feel angry because the mother was neglectful towards her children and did not care or do anything for them. She chose her boyfriend over her kids because she was scared that he would leave her. For example she would always ignore them and never showed them any attention at all. Whenever her boyfriend would come over she would completely switch personalities. This is shown when their mum would just randomly hit janey when Uncle Pera was around because he was scared he would leave her. This is also evident when their mum would leave for parties almost every night and never have any time at all to make them dinner or even pack them lunch for school she would sometimes hit Janey for no reason at all. I think a good parent should protect their children and not go out to parties every night. A character I admired was Hemma because he stepped up and looked after his little sister because his mum and her boyfriend would never do anything to help; they would just party all night and come home drunk.
I think the author wants us to think about what it is like to be a kid who has parents that don't care for them and that don't do anything for them. Ihimaera also wants us to know that not every kid has loving parents. For example in my family my mum and dad look after me and my siblings everyday and when they go out somewhere they will make sure we have food and will call us every one and a half to check on us
This short story relates to my life because my cousins were neglected when they were younger because their mum and dad are addicted to meth and went to prison when they were only 10,9,6 and 3. I think that parents should love their kids and not leave them alone for stuff like drugs and parties and spend time with them.
