Carlos is turning fifteen next week, and his sister Ana is going to finish elementary school at the end of this school year. Both of them are old enough to take on more responsibilities at home. In their family meeting last week, Carlos’s parents decided that Carlos and Ana should contribute more by doing chores at home. They created a list of chores and asked the two children to each pick at least one.
Ana was allowed to choose first because she was younger. Just as Carlos expected, his sister claimed the one he wanted the most, taking out the trash. Apparently, both of them considered this to be the easiest work around the house. Although a little unhappy, Carlos had to go with his second choice, preparing breakfast. After Carlos made his choice, their parents encouraged Carlos and his sister to take one more by offering them extra pocket money. Ana turned this offer down. But Carlos liked the idea of making some money. He had been saving for the newest computer game for a while, and this extra money could help him get it faster. After some careful thought, Carlos told his parents he would help with laundry, too.
Although Carlos had watched his parents fixing meals and doing laundry many times, he was not that confident about doing these things by himself. On his first laundry day, Carlos mistakenly put a red shirt in a load of white towels. All the towels turned pink, and there was nothing he could do to fix that. One morning Carlos set the toaster to high heat and burned the toast. This morning he woke up too late to make breakfast for his family, and his mom had to go to work on an empty stomach. Carlos was disappointed in himself. Luckily, his parents did not blame him for these mistakes and gave him tips on how to do better in the future.
