More often than not, reports of siblings not getting along seems to be the norm for high school students. However, this isn’t the case for sophomore Kayla Turner, whose older siblings are 28 and 32 years old. Because of the large age gap between the two older Turners and their baby sister, their relationship is more parental than maybe average.

“I think she has the best of both worlds,” Donna Turner, Kayla’s mother, said. “Sometimes I think she feels like she’s got two sets of parents, because they like to boss her around, but now that she’s older, they do a lot more with her. They’ll take her out to places, out to eat, just have fun with her.”

When her sister, Casey Turner, was in sixth grade and her brother, Austin Turner, was in 10th, their parents made the announcement that they would be adding a fifth member to the Turner clan. At first, they were worried about having to babysit and missing out on things that their friends would do without them, but as soon as Kayla entered their lives, all of that changed.

“I got really excited, especially when I found out it was going to be a girl,” Casey said. “I saw a lot of potential. I told all my friends, I was like, ‘I am going to coach her softball team when she gets older,’ and so once she was here, she had her brother and I wrapped around her finger. It’s interesting, now, as an adult to kind of go back and see what it’s like being a teenager again, with it not being your own kid, but somebody you’re equally as close to.”

According to their mother, they all have very different personalities; Austin’s very perfectionistic, Casey’s more laid back, and Kayla is a combination of the two. However, one thing that ties them all together is their love of music, since the three Turner children each participated in band at school. Now that Kayla is older, she’s grown closer to her siblings because of some similar interests, and she goes to them for advice, since they’ve been through their teenage years already.

“Having my siblings be so much older has helped me out a lot because I know I can go to them for help on homework, or relationships, or anything, because they’ve already been through it,” Kayla said.

Though Kayla may have been a surprise to the whole family, Donna feels it was a welcome one, and that she’s completed the Turners.

“I can’t imagine not having her,” Donna said. “I can’t imagine what we’d be doing today if we didn’t have her. She’s kept us busy, she’s kept us active, and we’ve just had a blast with her.”