I will admit that I was spoiled when I was little. I didn't have to get a job until I was 18 and that was only so that I would be able to buy the things that I wanted, not pay for my schooling or anything. My dad would drive me to school and pick me up after along with my sister. My brother drove us despite getting annoyed with it, and my mom worked her butt off every day so that we could have the life that we were living.
However, now I am 20 years-old and learning the reality of growing up. I am lucky my parents still help with bills such as paying for my rent, but now to help out I've taken to helping out by paying for some of the rent, all of my groceries, and any of the extra things that I want to do personally. All this makes me realize how nice my childhood was.
You see we got to go Disney World a few times, and we loved every minute. My mom was always working as hard as possible as a manager in retail to make sure that we didn't have to worry about money. Now I can really appreciate everything that she did and still does. She made time for us kids and sometimes she would have to miss events due to work but she always did her best to make it up to us.
My dad, when he became the stay at home, was sort of funny. He didn't really know how to cook or even how to tie a ponytail on his two twin daughters. This lead to some funny stories, such as the fact that he cooked a pizza on the cardboard it came with because he didn't know you were supposed to put it on a pan. Despite this, he did his best. He was always out front working on the yard and still does to this day to make it look nice. He would reward us for raking the leaves by taking us to the store and letting us get one thing. The best part is he loves Disney movies and is willing to watch them with us... as long as the Cubs or Hawks aren't on.
This leads to my brother. Chris is kind of a jerk like most older brothers but he also spent a lot of time entertaining us. He was normally left in charge of keeping us occupied for the day which is a lot, considering he had actual homework and hockey practice that he had to deal with. Don't worry though we helped him out. After all, he got another person to play two-player on Halo with, as well as two people who liked watching him play video games so they would bribe him to play them.
Overall my childhood is something that I will always treasure especially now that I am growing up. You never realized how great you had it until you have to start doing everything on your own. My family is something I will always be grateful for.