College Admissions Essay: How My Father Changed My Life

Words: 547
Pages: 3

When I was younger, I found myself filling in the shoes of my step-father after he left. This was during a critical time in my little brother’s life because suddenly his father was no longer in the picture. I had grown up without a father myself from early on, having my mother as the sole parental figure in my life. I didn’t want the same for my younger brother, Daniel, and tried to fill the void. In wanting to help out my mother, I took some of the responsibility for him upon myself. Accepting this responsibility put me in an almost fatherly role, and while I could never replace his father, I did my best to be there for Daniel. This occurred during my middle and early high school career, and ended up forcing me to make decisions with his best interests at heart, while sacrificing some of my own. While I’ve been responsible for watching over my little brother in an effort to support my mother, it has enabled me to grow personally as well. …show more content…
This entailed preparing meals for him, helping with his homework before my own, and allotting more time aside to spend with him. My mother did most of the heavy lifting, but I tried to help out wherever I could. There were some opportunities to enter programs myself in school, but I needed to put them aside because my brother was more important and needed my attention. Trying to fill a role you aren’t necessarily familiar with is hard in and of itself, and was a learning process. I didn’t quite understand what I was doing in the beginning, but gradually grew into the role. Having one parent isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however the ideal situation involves both parents being present in their children's