Wesley pushed his plate away.

“I want to eat meat.” he complained. “Can’t you make anything else?” he asked his mother.

His mom looked at him surprisingly. “We had roast chicken yesterday, hamburgers the day before, fish on Friday…”

Wesley sniffed derisively. “Yeah, yeah…Whatever!” and got up from the table.

“Wesley,” said his mother. “Please rinse your plate and put it in the dishwasher.”

“Why should I? I’m not your slave!”
“My slave?” gasped his mother, “How can helping out make you my slave?”

“You don’t pay me, do you?” asked Wesley triumphantly. “Work without pay is slavery!”

Wesley’s dad frowned. “We support you, son,” he pointed out. “We house you, feed you, clothe you, and educate you…”

“That’s your duty and my right!” said Wesley.

“And the law says you have to do it too, but I don’t have to do a thing!”

“Pay you?” asked the father calmly. “And how much would you want for doing your chores?”

“I’ve thought about that. For taking out the trash, $1, for washing dishes, $2, walking the dog, $4, cleaning my room, $5, and for cleaning the yard and mowing the lawn, $10. And you’re lucky I’m not demanding back pay.” Wesley happily replied.

“Never!” cried Wesley’s mom angrily, but his father smiled calmly.

“I agree, Wesley. We will pay you for your work according to your demands. From now on you are a man, and we will treat you as such.”

“Well, son, we start tomorrow, OK? I’ll put up a chart with your chores, and you write down what you’ve done on a daily basis. At the end of each week, say Friday afternoons, you get paid. What do you think?”

Wesley smiled happily. “That’s just perfect, dad!”

Wesley’s mom turned to his father. “Rick, how could you? He’s disrespectful, lazy, and greedy. He needs to learn,…”

Rick was smiling, and it wasn’t a nice smile. “Don’t worry, Martha, I have a plan, and our dear little boy is in for a very unpleasant experience.

We’re going to teach him a lesson!”

The next day, Wesley walked into the house after football practice. It had been a long day at school and he was starving. “Hey mom!” he said. “What’s for dinner?”

“Turkey pot-pie with sweet potatoes and peas,” his mother said smiling sweetly.

He saw that his dad had put up a chart on the wall and he immediately walked over and filled in walking the dog and cleaning his room. Later he would take out the trash.

That’s $9 already, though Wesley happily. I’m going to be rich!

“Mom!” he cried indignantly. “You didn’t call me and I told you I was starving!”

His father replied: “But Wesley, now that you are earning your own money, you will have to support yourself. If you want your mother to cook for you, you will have to pay her.”

“PAY HER?” screamed Wesley, “I’m not going to pay her!”

“Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to dip into your savings and order take away, then.” Wesley’s mother said still smiling.

“But…but…That’s not fair!” screamed Wesley and stormed upstairs. He ordered a pizza and it cost him $15 plus the delivery fee and the tip. Being an independent man was expensive!

The next morning he came down for breakfast to find his mother making bacon and eggs and it smelled delicious. “Hi mom,” he said sweetly, “can I have my eggs over easy?”

“Sure, son!” she smiled. “That will be $6 for breakfast!”

“You’re charging me for breakfast?” cried Wesley angrily. “That’s not fair!”

That night, Wesley came down at dinnertime looking despondent. His parents were having dinner and it smelled delicious. Wesley’s stomach rumbled. “Mom, dad?” he said quietly. “Can we talk?”

“Sure son,” said his father. “What’s on your mind?”

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry about that payment thing. I guess I never thought about everything you two do for me every day, and you never ask for anything in return.”

“We were hoping you’d realize that, Wesley. Everything we do for you, we do out of love, not obligation or duty,” his mother said.

“I know, mom, I’m so sorry,” Wesley whispered, and his eyes filled with tears.

That night, Wesley 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.