A Student Response From:
Amber
I think back to my childhood and all my mom did to give me and my siblings a better experience then she had growing up. I remember the three jobs my mom worked to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. I remember going to my older brother and asking why she was always working and feeling sad that she wasn’t going to be home that night. But I never felt like we were poor till I got older. When I started to feel self-conscious about wearing my sister’s hand-me-downs or inviting friends over to the trailer we lived in. It wasn’t till I was older that I really began to appreciate all the sacrifice my mom made for us growing. The experience I had growing up might not have included a big house or going out every night for dinner or going on vacations during the summer, but it was an experience that I took for granted. It was my story to live and learn to love, it was a story written and filled by the sacrifices and love of my mother. We all have a story to tell all different but they all have lessons to teach us.
Comments 1
Growing up the youngest of six, three boys and three girls all with the same parents. It has always occurred to me that you have to do with what you have. The older you get the more you realize the value of certain things and how many times your family has struggled financially but I always remember my mother telling me “you have never done without”. Meaning to me, no matter how hard it was for my parents to figure out how to survive and support their six kids, we have never lived a day without something we needed or wanted.
Being the youngest, I always had hand-me-downs, which sometimes I liked, and sometimes I hated. Growing up, I was always independent when it came to getting myself dressed, combed and ready for the day. I think majority of that was enforced the way my mom raised us because there were too many kids for her and my dad to of done it all. Also, it was put on my sisters’ responsibility to of taken care of me getting ready in the morning but because I was stubborn that I wanted my hair a certain way, I became independent to do it myself since a young age. My sisters and I are nine+ years apart that when I was growing up, times changed, style changed, trends modernized that therefore, it was set on needing new clothes instead of hand-me-downs. Another thing I realized was that by the time I was growing up, majority of the ‘kids’ grew up and out of the house, that my parents were financially stable with three, two or even just me in the house to buy what I needed, when I needed it. Thats why they say, the youngest are always spoiled.
Long-story short, my parents have always done what they had to to support for their kids. I never had the biggest house, the luxurious car, most recent iPhone or even name brand clothes growing up but I never felt as though I was ever in desperate need or behind.