I Am the Oldest of 7 Kids in Our Family, and Latest Parents News Devastated Me

My parents have 7 kids. There’s me (16m), Cayla (13f), Robin (12m), Sam (10m), Laci (8f), Zoe (6f) and Robbie (4m). They only ever intended to have two kids and even with me and Cayla alone, they’d still struggle. My parents don’t have great jobs.

We never had much space in our house to begin with and now we’re all crammed in. I started working at 13 to get money so I could pay for stuff I needed, like a laptop, which I didn’t have access to when my school first shut down. We didn’t even have internet then. My parents swore they were done with Robbie and they’d get us back on track and that I wouldn’t need to work just to pay for stuff I needed for school. The weight of being the oldest is already a lot and I have paid for stuff before.

I babysit so my parents can work nights or get a break. I take care of the house most days so they can focus on earning money. But it’s a lot and we’re really too big of a family for what we can actually afford. My parents get help from the government but it doesn’t go far because they’re not good with money or with buying groceries. When no baby came right after Robbie I thought they were serious and I started to think about my future. I’d love to learn to cook better and work in a restaurant. Not college exactly because we could never afford it and my grades aren’t good enough but something.