Beginning Responsibility

That was the 10 o'clock news. Ricky's mother and father have come home late from shopping this evening. Ricky's grandmother is sleeping on the couch and the television is still on. But they're not happy to see Ricky still up at 10.30.

He should have gone to bed at 8.30. Did he take his bath? Did he finish his arithmetic paper? Well, no time for all that now. It'll have to wait until morning. until morning. But in the morning when Mother wakes him up to get ready for school, Ricky is still tired. You know why. The bathroom won't be empty for long. Everyone else is

getting ready for the day. Except Ricky. Lucky for him, his sister just came by. He's going to be late, but now his brother is in the bathroom. He'll have to get dressed before he washes up. But he wants a red shirt to match the shirt his friend Pete is going to wear. Where's his red shirt? He should have asked yesterday. Now it's

there with the other ironing. No time to iron it this morning. Ricky's gotten dressed fast. He still hasn't washed. Uh-oh. His arithmetic. Everyone's eating breakfast. But where's Ricky? Working his jigsaw puzzle. He hasn't even washed up yet.

No wonder his mother is angry. And he still hasn't finished his arithmetic. He doesn't even have time to eat his breakfast. What a way to get ready for school. And that was a good breakfast his mother made for him too. He didn't comb his hair, he didn't brush his teeth. But even worse, he forgot his arithmetic paper, which

he didn't even finish. That's not being very responsible. Late again. This happens often, and yet Ricky doesn't know why. We do. After school, Ricky's friend Pete is waiting for him. Ricky's going to spend the night at Pete's house. He'll go to school right from there. His teacher gave him one more chance to finish his arithmetic. So he'll do it tonight.