Chapter 14: Be Worthy of Trust

George walked into the kitchen and asked his mom what was for breakfast. It was a sunny Sunday morning and he was excited to get to work. The night before, he was up until two in the morning playing Call of Duty 2 on his Xbox 360 and he couldn’t wait get online and play.

“It’s 11:30 in the afternoon son, breakfast is over.” His mom was busy cleaning and looked a little grumpy.

“OK. What’s for lunch then? I’m starving.”

“I’ll make you a sandwich. You need to clean your room today and finish your homework.”

“Oh, yeah, sure thing. That’ll get done today no problem.”

“No, it will get done right after you eat. You told me yesterday that you would clean your room and do all your homework. Unfortunately, you’re grounded from your video games until you’re finished with your chores and your homework.”

“But mom-“

“No “buts”, you won’t spend your life playing video games. Tommy came by this morning to see where you were. You told him you would meet him at the park and play football. That was twenty minutes ago, so there’s time to meet him once you’ve done all your chores.” She smiled at George and handed him a plate with a sandwich on it as she gently nudged him out of the kitchen.

When George got to his room, he looked around at the clothes on the floor, the dirty dishes on his end table and the papers and books all over the desk, floor and bed.

“It’s not that bad,” he muttered under his breath. All he could think about was Call of Duty and his next mission. He noticed a strange smell coming from somewhere in the room and wondered how long that smell had been there.  He sniffed his sandwich and took a bite.

He stared at his room, overwhelmed and unsure where to start.

What could George do? Here are a few options:

• Ignore his mom, play his Xbox and deal with the consequences later.
• Clean his room and do his homework as fast as he can so he can play video games.
• Do his chores and meet Tommy at the park.
• Tell his mom that it’s HIS room and he’ll do what he wants with it.

What would you do?

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