Just Pass on the Wisdom.

My personal vote for the best, and the one I have worked the hardest for.

I like to call it the Wisdom box. Or the problem solver. Whichever one makes more sense.

So, I had left home by the time my sister approached her teenage, yet I wanted to be there while watching her grow. Mainly because I had assumed that it was my responsibility to pass on the "wisdom" I had received from my parents and life while I was growing up, so she could go out there and make better mistakes. Which is why, since the time she had started reading, I used to write to her telling her about my life then, about my friends, my art, my work (or lack of it), everything that I could remember and thought was important. (Here you must know that there is an almost 7 year gap between the two of us, so she could not remember much of my life).

However, as she approached teenage, she needed more than that. There would be important decisions to make, and some important changes she has to wrap her head around. Moreover, given that my sister was very introverted, and would never share her worries, I needed her to have something to help her that instant.

So I made her the problem solver kit. It contains small notes of the common quotes used by my parents, starting from "I told you so" to more profound stuff, and some other stuff that I found useful while growing up. Each one of them is tied with a ribbon and put in a huge chocolate box (which I later painted). It comes with a  set of instructions that tells her to just pick a chit when she is in doubt and she will have an answer. As and when I learnt new things, I added it to the list with a ribbon, sometimes with her knowing, sometimes not.

The secret is that most of these aphorisms are very general, and make sense in most situations. Sometimes she has needed more than one chit. In that sense, this is not fool-proof. But it has always served as a reminder that there is wisdom in every problem, and every mistake overcome. It still rests by her bedside, and I feel proud knowing that she uses it sometimes, and that in that way, I have managed to be a part of her growing up. And it lasts forever,  because wisdom never grows old. :)