Nataila was a curious girl who wanted to know everything that was going on around her. She would stick her nose where it didn't belong and ask questions that weren't any of her business.
Like that time she asked the lunch lady why she didn’t have a husband.
Or when she stood outside of her moms bedroom just to listen to her phone conversation.
Oh, and that one Christmas that she ripped open a tiny part of each gift to see what was underneath.
Nosey Natalia, would she ever learn?
One day, Natalia's big sister, Nina went out with her friends, so naturally, Natalia rolled up her sleeves, gently opened her sister's bedroom door and got ready for some good ol’ fashioned snooping. She started with the closet, taking out pieces of clothing and trying them on in the mirror. Ou-la-la, so fancy.
And that’s when it happened, glancing over to the nightstand, she saw her sister’s diary wide open, just asking for its pages to be turned. Natalia knew it was wrong, trying on her sisters clothes was harmless, kinda, but reading her diary, this was next level nosey.
Natalia bit her fingernails, she felt bad.
This was exciting, but it was wrong.
This was wild, but it was bad, real bad.
“Okay fine, I’ll read just one page”, Natalia said to herself.
She wanted to know all of her sister's secrets. So she closed the door, tip-toed over to the nightstand, and laid down on her sister’s bed to read. Just. ONE. Page.
Before she knew it, Natalia was on page 12 of the diary, so many interesting things she learned about her big sister, Nina. Like her favourite shows, all of the fights she got into with her friends, but the juiciest part was about the crush she had on a boy at school. The contents of the diary were so good that Natalia needed to get a little snack to properly enjoy it.
She rushed downstairs to the kitchen for a bowl of Cheetos and went right back to reading the diary.
Another 30 minutes passed and she couldn’t believe it, she finished reading everything. It felt so good, but it felt so bad too, this was called an invasion of privacy. She got this feeling in her stomach: guilt.
Suddenly, Natalia heard Nina’s voice at the front door. Panicking, she rushed to put the diary back on the nightstand, put the clothes back into the closet and get her little butt outta there.
Phew, she did it.
Later that evening, at dinner, Natalia looked at Nina differently, it was like she finally got to know her, inside and out. She loved feeling this way, she felt so close to her big sister. They even sat together and watched a movie before bed.
After her bath, it was time for Natalia to go to sleep. And that’s when she heard it, a loud scream, “Natalia”, yelled her big sister, Nina.
“Uh oh”, thought Natalia.
She was confronted by her sister, with tears in her eyes, “Natalia, did you read my diary?”
Natalia paused, and decided to lie. “No, I didn’t read it”, she replied.
Nina pulled out her diary from behind her back and showed Natalia all of the cheesy fingerprints on the pages.
“Natalia, I know you read my diary. I can see your cheeto dust everywhere. Why did you do it?”, asked Nina.
Natalia sat down, looking at the floor. She said to her sister that she just couldn’t help it, there was so much that she wanted to know. Plus, her sister never tells her any secrets and it wasn’t fair.
Nina explained that Natalia doesn’t have to know everything about everyone, people deserve to have their privacy. And if they want to tell you things, they will, and if you want to know more things, just ask.
It's not always easy, but respecting other people's privacy is the right thing to do. Natalia apologized to her sister and promised never to snoop around in her room again. For the next few weeks it was tough, but Natalia finally learned to mind her own business.
TALKBACK QUESTIONS:
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Do you like knowing everything about everyone? Why or why not?
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If you were Natalia, how would you make it up to your big sister?
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What sort of things would you write in your diary or journal?