A lesson on lack and how transparency is key to a family working together during hard times

The other day my teenage son’s laptop showed the dreaded blue screen in the middle of his online class.

He was in a panic because he didn’t know what to do. I asked him if he has installed anything new on the laptop. He said no. I recall he installed a new game from Steam and I told him that some games are really incompatible with the system and might mess with his laptop. He was disappointed having realized he might have made a mistake. I was disappointed too.

The next day, I lent him my MacBook Pro for his class and told him to take good care of it. I then proceeded to my morning meetings and then made a trip to SM Megamall to have his laptop checked. It turned out his HDD is already acting up and the technician said the software installed might have also contributed to the problem. I agreed to wipe the whole drive and add a faster SSD drive.

I went home and told my son he won’t have administrative access to his laptop anymore. I also told him that now that I am still looking for work, all the money is going out and there is no money, from my end, coming in. His face grimaced, upon hearing this. I looked at him like I really wanted him to understand the situation and that we needed his help, and that I wanted to involve him in this situation. To make him more aware that his actions affect the whole family. He grew up when we were not struggling that much anymore as a young family. We shielded him from those concerns. Now that he is older, I wanted him to know that there are times that we have plenty and there are times that we need to face the truth when we are lacking. I know this will help him in the future when he faces his own time of plenty and time of lack.

This pandemic has really challenged families. I sincerely believe we will all come out stronger and as one.