A teenage boy demands that his parents pay him for doing household chores and learns an important lesson.<\/p>\n
Ethan pushed his plate away. \u201cI\u2019m tired of meatloaf,\u201d he grumbled. \u201cCan\u2019t you cook something else?\u201d he asked his mom.<\/p>\n
His mom looked at him, annoyed. \u201cWe had roast chicken yesterday, burgers the day before, fish on Friday\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan rolled his eyes. \u201cYeah, whatever!\u201d and got up from the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan,\u201d his mom said. \u201cPlease wash your plate and put it in the dishwasher.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy should I?\u201d Ethan asked with typical teen attitude. \u201cI\u2019m not your servant!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cServant?\u201d his mom gasped. \u201cHow is helping out being a servant?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t pay me, do you?\u201d Ethan said smugly. \u201cWork without pay is unfair!\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s dad frowned. \u201cWe take care of you, son,\u201d he said. \u201cWe give you a home, food, clothes, and school\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s your job!\u201d Ethan shot back. \u201cThe law says you have to, but I don\u2019t have to do anything!\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s mom\u2019s face turned red. \u201cSo we have responsibilities, and you have rights? Is that what you think? What about your responsibility to help with chores?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not your servant,\u201d Ethan repeated boldly. \u201cIf you want me to do stuff, pay me!\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s mom stood up, but his dad gently held her arm. \u201cPay you?\u201d his dad asked calmly. \u201cHow much do you want for your chores?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan grinned. \u201cI\u2019ve thought about it. Taking out the trash, $1. Washing dishes, $2. Walking the dog, $4. Cleaning my room, $5. Cleaning the yard and mowing the lawn, $10. And you\u2019re lucky I\u2019m not asking for back pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNever!\u201d Ethan\u2019s mom said angrily, but his dad smiled calmly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlright, Ethan,\u201d his dad said. \u201cWe\u2019ll pay you for your chores as you want. From now on, you\u2019re a man, and we\u2019ll treat you like one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan stood tall. \u201cAbout time you showed me some respect!\u201d he boasted. His mom started to argue, but his dad smiled and stopped her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlright, son, we start tomorrow,\u201d his dad said. \u201cI\u2019ll put up a chart for your chores. You write down what you do each day. Every Friday, you\u2019ll get paid. Sound good?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan grinned. \u201cPerfect, Dad!\u201d He walked away feeling great, not knowing he was about to have one of the worst weeks of his life.<\/p>\n
A family works together to make life better for everyone.<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s mom turned to his dad. \u201cJames, how could you? He\u2019s rude, lazy, and greedy. He needs to learn!\u201d<\/p>\n
James smiled, but it wasn\u2019t a kind smile. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Sarah. I have a plan. Our boy is in for a tough lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next day, Ethan came home after football practice. He was starving. \u201cHey, Mom!\u201d he called. \u201cWhat\u2019s for dinner?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTurkey pie with sweet potatoes and peas,\u201d his mom said with a sweet smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cAwesome!\u201d Ethan said. \u201cI\u2019m so hungry!\u201d He saw the chore chart on the wall and marked that he\u2019d walked the dog and cleaned his room. Later, he\u2019d take out the trash.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s $9 already, Ethan thought happily. I\u2019m gonna be rich! An hour later, the smell of food brought him back to the kitchen. His parents were eating dinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom!\u201d Ethan said, upset. \u201cYou didn\u2019t call me, and I said I was hungry!\u201d<\/p>\n
His mom smiled, and his dad said, \u201cEthan, since you\u2019re earning money now, you need to pay for things. If you want your mom to cook for you, you have to pay her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPay her?\u201d Ethan yelled. \u201cNo way!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen use your savings to order takeout,\u201d his mom said, still smiling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not fair!\u201d Ethan shouted and stormed upstairs. He ordered a pizza that cost $15, plus delivery and a tip. He figured it would take three days of chores to pay for it. Being a \u201cman\u201d was expensive!<\/p>\n
The next morning, he smelled bacon and eggs. \u201cHi, Mom,\u201d he said nicely. \u201cCan I have my eggs over easy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSure!\u201d she smiled. \u201cThat\u2019ll be $6 for breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re charging me for breakfast?\u201d Ethan said, mad. \u201cThat\u2019s not fair!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then came another shock. \u201cDad,\u201d Ethan said, \u201cour coach says we need new team jerseys. They cost $69.99.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI see,\u201d his dad said, smiling. \u201cWhy are you telling me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you can give me the money!\u201d Ethan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan,\u201d his dad said, still smiling, \u201csince you\u2019re earning money, you pay for your own things, like clothes. Didn\u2019t you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have $70!\u201d Ethan cried. \u201cWhere am I supposed to get that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSave up from your chores,\u201d his dad said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan was shocked. He had to buy his own food and clothes? This wasn\u2019t what he expected. \u201cFine,\u201d he said. \u201cDad, can you drive me to school? I\u2019m running late.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSure!\u201d his dad smiled. \u201cThat\u2019ll be $5.50.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re charging me for a ride?\u201d Ethan gasped.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d pay for a taxi, right?\u201d his dad said reasonably.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2019re my dad!\u201d Ethan shouted.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, Ethan,\u201d his mom said sweetly. \u201cThat reminds me\u2014$12.50 for washing and ironing your clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan walked to school and was late. At lunch, he ate cafeteria food and missed his mom\u2019s meatloaf, mac and cheese, and Irish stew.<\/p>\n
That night, Ethan came to dinner looking sad. His parents were eating, and the food smelled amazing. His stomach growled. \u201cMom, Dad?\u201d he said quietly. \u201cCan we talk?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSure, son,\u201d his dad said. \u201cWhat\u2019s up?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry about the payment thing,\u201d Ethan said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think about all you do for me every day, and you never ask for anything back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hoped you\u2019d see that,\u201d his mom said. \u201cWe do these things for you because we love you, not because we have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know, Mom. I\u2019m really sorry,\u201d Ethan whispered, his eyes wet.<\/p>\n
His dad hugged him. \u201cSon, in a family, we help each other to make life better. That\u2019s what family means.\u201d<\/p>\n
His mom hugged him too. \u201cHow about some dinner? I made cottage pie and green beans\u2014your favorite!\u201d<\/p>\n
That night, Liam had one of the nicest evenings ever with his parents, and he learned one of the most important lessons: to appreciate all that his parents do for him and to do his part in helping his family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A teenage boy demands that his parents pay him for doing household chores and learns an important lesson. Ethan pushed his plate away. \u201cI\u2019m tired of meatloaf,\u201d he grumbled. \u201cCan\u2019t you cook something else?\u201d he asked his mom. His mom looked at him, annoyed. \u201cWe had roast chicken yesterday, burgers the day before, fish on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30001,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30000\/revisions\/30001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}