The 19 year old quoted in the article was leaving, probably because she aged out and had been there for a number of years. Remember teens starts at 13. At that age I was starting to disagree with my mother, and she would scream “Don’t you talk to me in that fresh tone of voice, smack!” at 12 she would leave me home all day Saturday caring for my 2 and 4 year old brothers while pop drove her into town to do grocery shopping and laundrey for a family of 5. She would also leave me with a list of 6 to 8 chores to do while I kept the 2 and 4 year old out of trouble. Then she came home and complained that I had done things wrong or not finished and I would try to defend myself. But hey, I had a fresh tone of voice. I understood that I was needed to care for the boys, but I didn’t think she was fair expecting me to do her lists to her standard while caring for lively preschoolers.
No, she was not right.
You were 12 and while it’s reasonable to expect you to be able do those things, to do them exactly the way she would have or even to be able to complete them all, is not.
There were days as a mom with toddlers that I didn’t get everything done that I had planned.