The Kid Adult

So, it all started when I was nine years old, that’s when my parents had it tough. They would leave for work to pay of the rent, they couldn’t afford a babysitter so I had to stay and take care of my two younger siblings. We were a family of six at that time. Anyways I would stay home and literally babysit my brother and sister. I was annoyed because, how can a nine-year-old babysit two other kids? As time went on I didn’t really care when my parents would say “We are leaving for work, put the lock on the door, and make sure your brother and sister eat.” My older brother helped but not enough, he just stayed in his room. That was the first “adult” job I’ve had.

Skipping ahead to when I was around 13, I started to have more and more responsibilities. It was hard, as a 13-year-old, cleaning dishes, cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, washing clothes, and more, way more. I couldn’t really keep myself together for school, I would come home with bad grades, and I was way too tired to even do homework, so I never really did any school work. Then, when I was 14, another girl came into the world, my sister. I was so happy when I got to see her, I also even stayed overnight at the hospital just to stay with her. When my mom and sister got home I was the happiest person alive. Until my mom got sick the second day she was home and had to leave again to go to the hospital. My sister couldn’t come with, so I was stuck with her. My dad couldn’t take care of her because he had to work, my parents couldn't hire a nanny because they were too expensive for us. So I stayed for two weeks, maybe a little more, to take care of my sister. In total, I missed school for three weeks and school just started. I was overwhelmed because taking care of a newborn is hard, really hard.

A year later I’m 15, we moved to a house finally. We were in apartments for the past eight years and I hated it. My brother is 18 and he’s never really in the picture because he’s always in his room, so he never really helped. So when we moved, I had to switch schools. A school where I can go two days a week, which is great but I didn’t really like it and still don’t like it. I have good grades now and tons and tons of chores now that I’m home all the time. My parents just work and come home to sleep, that’s it. I’m 15 now and I understand how hard it is to maintain a family of seven in these times. So I don’t really complain anymore. I’m happy my parents have gotten us this far and now that I’m a 15-year-old, I’m going to start working to help them out a little. Honestly, I’m depressed, overwhelmed, and I have social anxiety, and my life is a mess but somehow I get through it and I think about how I’ll get through this. My life has many ups and downs but it’s something everyone has to do, I just have to get through it.

Life is full of downs but the only way to get through them is to be strong. I might have been the third adult in my family, but thanks to that, I’m mature enough to understand many things in today’s world.