For many high school students, the time they spend working goes beyond homework and hobbies. Sophomore Zoe Wilson (she/her) learned what this was like firsthand when she had to adjust to new responsibilities at home. After her mother was diagnosed with monoclonal immunoglobulin deposition disease, a rare blood illness, Wilson found herself taking on more household chores, such as cooking or doing laundry while her mom underwent treatment. She began spending more time caring for her mother to ensure that she got the care she needed, while also balancing school, sports and family responsibilities.
“Around the house, I let my parents do a lot more and I was being a little more laid back, and that’s what my parents are here for,” Wilson said. “But since that happened, I just feel it made me realize how much I actually do need to contribute around the house and how much responsibility I do actually have.”
Wilson said she feels that she sometimes can’t contribute as much time toward helping her mom as she would like. She sometimes falls behind in school, but she said she is able to catch up quickly.
For junior Ellen Lowe (she/her), waking up early in the morning to help her younger siblings get ready for school is her routine. Both of her parents work, so she said that it’s important for her to help her siblings, 12 and 14, get ready for the day and keep the house quiet without her parents. Lowe begins her morning by taking care of her own responsibilities and then helping her siblings.
“I get up at five, get all of my stuff ready, and then I make sure that they’re up and doing their chores, and that they’ve packed a lunch,” Lowe said. “And when I get home, just making sure they’re doing their homework and that they’re home and not running off somewhere.”
While she said it can be challenging at times, she said her parents are a major motivator. She said the time they spent taking care of her when she was younger inspired her to take care of her siblings when she grew older.
Sophomore Rhys Taylor (he/him) has been working on his grandparents’ private farm in eastern Washington for four years. While he doesn’t work on weekdays, he works most weekends in the summer and occasionally makes the trip in the winter. Taylor’s chores range from moving hay bales to tending to farm animals, including cows, horses, two goats and a steer. Taylor’s work is extremely important to his grandparents, as they deeply value his ability to undertake physical tasks on the farm.
“They’re getting older, things get harder for them,” Taylor said. “A lot of the getting up and down, or running over, picking something up, is significantly helpful to them since they can’t do that nearly as quickly as I can. From my perspective, they could definitely run the entire operation themselves. They’re very capable people, but I think my help is appreciated.”
Taylor said he sometimes gets back pain from heavy lifting, which often impacts activities he enjoys.
“It did give me minor scoliosis for a while because of all that weight on my back. It made it so that things like biking, which I usually do a lot with friends, was difficult because I have no back support there,” Taylor said. “So for a week or two at a time, I couldn’t really go out and do anything.”
In addition, Taylor said that Inglemoor does a decent job at understanding students who have extra responsibilities, though he thinks extra steps could be taken.
“I feel like there are some teachers that could probably be better at giving certain students leeway for assignments, especially math teachers who give homework over the weekend,” Taylor said. “Because if I’m at the farm on the weekend, then I pretty much have zero time to do it. I might have 20 minutes here and there, but I’d say about 90% of the time I’ve been on the farm over the weekend, I don’t finish like, 70% of my homework.”
Similarly, Wilson said that teachers can be more understanding toward students who have extra responsibilities.
“Whether it’s helping out parents or little siblings after school, they could be more understanding and maybe a little more lenient on due dates and projects and stuff,” Wilson said. “I’ve already made that communication with some teachers, but I feel like just a lot more teachers could be a little bit more understanding.”
However, Wilson said she feels that the sacrifice she makes to support her family is more than worth it, as long as it makes her mom feel as healthy and comfortable as possible.
“The thought of this possibly taking her completely away is just something that’s really scary,” Wilson said. “So just helping her out as much as I can is just a good motivator for me, just so she can take the time to get better for herself.”
