Once upon a time, there was a mother called Mary would would always try to please her children Fernanda and Roger, but they were never happy. 

Both children were really demanding; they seemed to want more. Everything their colleagues at school had, they wanted as well for themselves.  

Their family wasn’t well-off, but tried to give everything they wished to their children. Even if their parents were committed to please them, both children wouldn’t want to help at home; even if they saw their mother was working quite hard with the house chores. 

One day, Mary wasn’t able to get up from her bed. She would always wake up her children up in the morning so they could get ready to go to school. On that day, they didn’t wake up on time and arrived late at school.

When they got back home from school at midday, there was nothing ready for them to eat. They were not sure what was going on and decided to search around the house for their mother. The children found her laying in bed still.

— What happened, mom? —Fernanda asked. 

— I am not ok, my daughter. I think I have got a cold. I will be feeling better soon. 

Roger felt quite angry and complained to his mom: 

— What about our lunch? Who will cook for us? I am hungry! 

O pai, que apareceu na porta naquele instante, informou: 

— You will eat bread and butter today. We will also prepare tea. If your mom is still off sick tomorrow, we will find another alternative. 

Fernanda crossed her arms and complained: 

— Is that it? I am not going to eat! 

Her dad responded calmly to her: 

— Well, you don’t have to eat then. Be aware there is no food ready to be eaten at home and I can’t cook as I need to get back to work. If you want to cook, please feel free to do it.    

Fernanda felt quite upset. Her dad knew she doesn’t know how to cook... After they had lunch together, their parent said to them: 

— Now you both need to take some food over to your mother. Please do the dishes before you start to work on your homework. I will see you later. 

Roger decided to take tea and biscuits to their mom. Once he returned to the kitchen, he saw Fernanda looking at the sink; she had no idea what to do.   — These dishes are dirty! — She complained.  — I never taught we do so much mess! — Roger said  to his sister.  —  Ok,  let’s  go.
We need to deal with it as soon as possible.

Since the children were not used to doing these tasks, it took them a long time to do it. They were feeling quite tired after finishing with this chore. They then decided to tidy up the house, as it was quite messy: they cleaned the house, put the clothes into the washing machine, watered the plants and ironed their clothes. 

— How can mom do all of this on her own? — they wondered.  

When they finished these tasks, they felt so tired. They were not able to do anything anymore. Their father soon arrived home with some shopping bags. 

He passed by the supermarket after work and brought some groceries back home.  

— You will need to help me in the kitchen, kids. Let’s wash the vegetables. We need to chop the potatos and carrots. 

Even feeling quite tired, they just couldn’t say no. They made a delicious soup, which was also eaten by their mother. She was recovering very slowly.  Mary was able to get out of bed three days later. It was a day before Mother’s Day.

Roger and Fernanda felt really happy to see their mother walking around the house. They worked really hard at home for the last three days, and now appreciated everything she did for them. She never complained of all the house chores! 

They ran towards her and huggest her: 

— Mom! We are so happy to see you feeling better! We can now appreciate everything you do for us. 

— It’s true mom! —Roger said. — We will now help you everyday at home. We could only understand everything you do now; that we had to do all by ourselves. We never helped you before. We are members of this family and we should do our tasks as well. 

Her mother smilled and looked at both of them with kindness: 

— You are my dear children. I would have done everything again for you, with pleasure. I appreciate you want to help me more. I agree we should all support each other. 

Later on that day, Mary was cooking in the kitchen. The children’s dad arrived back from work for lunch, but the kids were not there yet.   Roger and Fernanda arrived home in a short while with flowers. They gave them to their mother:  — Mom, this is for you. You are the best mom in the world!  They  hugged  her with  love.  They  now  knew
everything changed, thanks to God.

                                                              
                                                                  Aunt Celia