Responsibilities

Responsibilities


“Lara, have you made your bed? Lara, pack your bag! Lara, can you empty the dishwasher? Lara this Lara that.. don’t you just hate it when your parents are constantly breathing down your neck?!”


By now you’ve probably worked out that my name is Lara.   I am 11 years old. Some days the list of chores I have to do at home feel like it's longer than my arm span, at other times it feels like it's growing at the same rate as my height.




Being responsible means having to work things out without having someone check that I’ve done them properly.  For me at home, my responsibilities are things like setting and clearing the table after a meal, feeding the cat, making sure my room is clean and tidy along with other chores that my parents might ask me to do.  I have to complete my jobs without being reminded and before mum or dads invisible alarm clock goes off and I start hearing the dreaded drone of repetitive whining …. when I was your age, I used to have to get up at 6 o'clock in the morning, rain hail or shine and…. blah blah blah.


Pets, Do you have one? Did you have to beg your parents to get it? Most kids have pets because they begged and begged and begged. Are you one of them?  Did you promise that you’ll look after it, and feed it?! Studies show that 49% of the population plead to get a pet. It alsostates that kids end up getting bored with them and stop looking after them so our parents have to step in and become the primary caregiver. Having a pet just cost money from buying the animal to paying for their meals.


Who likes cleaning their room? Well I don’t really know what it's like, I’m one of the 22% of kids that like their room to be clean twenty four seven. For me I always walk into my room and then everything is put away. Are you like me or are you the kid who wonders, What's the point of cleaning your room?. When I was younger, I thought cleaning my room was a waste of time. Let me tell you, everybody hates cleaning their room but if you share a room with your siblings it can get pretty messy.


Don't you just hate chores? Well I know I do. All kids think chores are a punishment or jobs our parents are too lazy to do. Most of us think chores were invented to ruin our lives, but actually chores are designed to set us up for adulthood. Believe it or not chores were worse than this in the 19th century. Washing clothes took all day, Imagine milking a cow by hand? And ironing your clothes with an iron heated off a Cole range.


Derek Fisher  - a very successful American sportsman, coach and five time world champion for basketball once said “With my responsibilities comes having to manage my time more effectively”.What us kids don't realise is that we are given chores to pull our weight around our homes. We get pets as a present or something to make us happy. And we are given messy siblings to keep us entertained while we have nothing to do.


Thank you