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