In the book I'm read "The Rules of Survival", I feel like Matt the main character has some responsibilities that I don't think any regular teenager would look forward to. With a mother as crazy as his along with his younger sisters he has a lot to balance as a kid.
In this book I feel like it is unfair that Matt has to deal with the life he has. Matt has to take care of his sisters because at any moment his mom could lose it. She goes insane putting the well being of the kids into pure danger and gets enraged. Their mother is a hard situation to deal with. I think that having a mother who is like Matt's mother is hard because she is in charge and out of control. If the person who is supposed to be in charge and makes all the rules gets to lose control and break all of the rules, who puts her in place? The answer is nobody, and I think that Matt has been struggling with this because it's hard to fight back with your mom, whether she's crazy or not.
I also think that Matt's sisters do not realize how bad their situation is. The girls are just keen on staying out of their mother's sight when she gets mad- as if it were a daily routine. Meanwhile, Matt gets beaten and hit and hurt and left defenseless all because he's the only one who wants to take it. He doesn't take it because he likes it obviously, but because he has a big sense of responsibility and knows he must take care of his sisters.
All in all I think that Matt has a lot more responsibilities than the average kid. With all the things he goes through I find it hard that we could consider his life a childhood. The responsibility he has shows tremendous character, patience, and love for his sisters.
