It was about two weeks before my thirteenth birthday and my parents had been telling me things are going to be changing. They told me that because they were going to start expecting more from me and making me work for what I wanted.
My mom pointedly said, “You’re growing up and you must take on more responsibility.”
The only thing going through my head was “Great, more crap I have to put up with.” I remember that day when they told me that, I felt a bit of nervousness because I didn’t really know what they meant. I was in seventh grade and as it started to get closer to my birthday I was anxious to find out what they meant by saying “It was time for me to step up to the plate.” “What the heck does this mean” I kept thinking to myself. How things were going to change?

There was only a few days left till my birthday and I was excited to turn thirteen. Then came the day of my birthday and nothing yet had really switched. Saturday was filled with lots of excitement and I didn’t really think about how things were going to change like my mom had told me. I had visions of all the presents I was getting.

“Now that you’re getting older you’re going to have to start to earn the money we give you and start taking some responsibility,” my mom proposed seriously.

“Ok I get it you already told me but what do you mean by this,” I questioned.

“We will give you your list of chores tomorrow, you will be working around the house and helping us out,” my mom replied.

The next day my mom gave me a list of chores that needed to be done in order for me to get any spending money or go hang out with my friends. My parents were doing this to me so I became disciplined and got in the habit of getting work done. Everyday I had to do work around my house such as clean my room, make my bed, walk my dog, take out the trash, clean the kitchen and sometimes there was other things I needed to do. I complained about doing this because I felt like it was a waste of time.

“I’m tired of this! Why do I have to do all this work all of a sudden in order to get money or go out with my friends,” I whined to my mom.

“Now that you’re getting older you have to get used to working for what you want in life you can’t just expect things to be given to you or you won’t be successful later on in life,” my mom asserted.

“Ok, I get it, I will do what you ask of me,” I answered my mom. Inside I thought this was going to be hell because of all the work.

For the first week I was so mad at my mom for making me do all of those chores and work but then it just became a normal routine. Now that I am older I completely understand why my parents expected this of me, the purpose was it to help me work for things and not be a lazy person who just expects things to be given to them. I have changed a lot since I was in seventh grade, physically I’m bigger and stronger, mentally I’m learning new things, and emotionally I can handle a lot more problems. In the areas of work and responsibility I began to change and grow a lot and definitely became more mature. The day I turned thirteen I started taking on more responsibility and that day changed my perspective of life.