Undergraduate / Transition from Childhood: Mom and first generation college student [3]

Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

"Can you take this outside?" - she asked in a sad tone. Disgusted and annoyed I ran out. After a while, my sister came and helped mother.

My mom vividly recalled the incident. Despite not knowing why I acted like that, I remember that very loosely.

She was in bed for more than 3 months after her backbone fractured. At the age of 9, I learned how to cook, wash clothes and take care of my little sister and mom at the same time. After my mom was okay, I rarely had to do the work all by myself. I just occasionally helped her on kitchen.

Fast forward, aged 18 I left my home to go to Kathmandu. An IT company in Kathmandu had offered me a job as lead developer role after looking at my portfolios. It was my first real job after failing to run a successful business in my hometown. I had juggled through my high school studies and running a small business which impacted my studies as well.

It was the first time I was living alone. I had to cook my own food, clean dishes and wash clothes all my myself. Initially, it was fun. I had this sense of freedom I always wanted to have. As the time passed, I lost the count of nights I spent without proper food because I was too lazy and tired to do anything.

3 months later, I went back home for Dashain, the biggest festival of Nepal. Full of compassion and grateful for her work, I bought her a novel she wanted to read. Little did I know, this small vacation would help me know her better and teach me a valuable lesson.

She was having back pain and there was no one to help her in household works. This was the time I worked all day long to maintain the household. I found out how my mother who had just passed 10th grade was running economics of house so perfectly. Except nasty stares from some distant relatives, there was nothing much to worry about. Despite endless works, I didn't complain anything to mom. Instead, I was feeling happy for doing something that is directly helping her.

One night, we were talking casually when she brought up her story about college. "I cried asking my parents not to marry me this early. I was just 19 and I wanted to complete my studies.", on the verge of tears she explained how she was agreed after knowing her parents financial condition. Then I remembered how excited she was after she had completed her 11th grade finals even though she couldn't even appear for 12th board examination due to family problems. She had talked about her college aspirations earlier but she had never became such emotional.

For me being adult was always about crossing a certain age to enjoy drinking legally or not lying to porn websites about my age. But that day I realized it was more about understanding people; gaining trust from others and putting others happiness before yours. That day she didn't ask me to pick particular subject or complained about taking a gap year.She knew I understood what she needs to say without saying any other word.

Undergraduate / Transition to Childhood: Encouraging Pat: "That was a really excellent presentation" [3]

This is the first draft of essay. I'm NOT sure if it helps to understand my personality. Any help will be appreciated.

"That was a really excellent presentation. I learned so many new things from that. Thank you." a guy in his early thirties came to me and patted on my back. It was after I presented in WordCamp Nepal 2015. It was ecstatic moment. Finally I felt like I did something worthy in my life.

Late Teenage is probably the most difficult period in our human life. "We are expected to behave like adults and yet treated like child." my college friend ranted about his condition. Honestly, I didn't care about being treated or behaving like adults until that small gesture.

From early childhood, I learned to work hard. I wanted to be adult as soon as possible. Tired of limitations placed on teenagers, I wanted to be free. I wanted to own my business and travel the world. The endeavor continued. I started my own business; failed. Got up and started learning again. Down the line, I helped quite a few people to get started on their journey. Sometime it was by organizing event like Django Girls Coding Bootcamp or some other time suggesting mutual friends on how to move ahead.

Funny thing is I had already received such pats. Mostly from relatives or teachers or someone who I worked closely with for some projects. I didn't think much about that.

Finally, that pat changed everything. I helped a stranger without any expectation. Now I didn't just want to own business, make money and travel the world. I wanted to help people. I wanted to change the lives of people by bringing positive impacts. I felt that sense of pleasure by doing something without any expectation. Maybe that is when I had the transition from a teenager to adult. I was more confident of my skills. I was more than determined with new vigor and more clear picture of what I want to do.

Writing Feedback / The children should be allowed to have smart phones along with maintaining some restrictions - TOEFL [2]

Some parents forbid young children from owning smartphones (cell phones with Internet access), while others disagree and believe that they are important tools for keeping in touch. Which point of view do you think is better, and why?

Nowadays, smart phones are very common among the young children. Still many parents believe that smart phones are not doing any good to their children and don't allow them to use. I believe the every aspect of society should be benefited by the technological advancement we have in this century. So, the children should be allowed to have smart phones along with maintaining some restrictions.

The major problem faced by the parents for allowing the young children to use smart phones is addiction towards such devices. These days young children are often seen looking at the smart phone's screen rather than enjoying the life with other activities. Due to this there may be possibility of less focus on studies and they tend to get lost in the internet world. For example: One of friends' brother used to have good grades in school. But later he became so addicted to social networking sites that he failed in high school. That was all because of improper and unmanaged use of internet. Even if we take a look at the famous person, Steve Jobs, who invented the phones with internet (iPhones), it didn't allow his children to use such devices. It may be inferred that he feared similar incidents would come up.

On the other hand, smart phones are basic essential thing required for proper functioning of this world. It makes every easy to communicate with people and keep in touch with each other. For example: When parents are out for dinner or gone to visit relatives, with a simple click of a button they can communicate with their young children at home and get to know about the situations.

To conclude, despite being important tools in human life, there are some disadvantages of smart phones that should be taken care of before allowing children to use them. I believe young children should be allowed to use such devices with proper restrictions and parental guidance. Parents should monitor the internet usage pattern of child, give suggestions and also inform them about the misuse of internet.