Day in the Life of a Young Carer

1. 6:00am – Jump out of bed and go to the shower.
2. 6:30am – Go down stairs make mum a cup of tea and some toast. Whilst she eats I get my things ready.
3. 7:00am – I get dressed.
4. 7:30am – Take mum to the toilet, wash the pots and hoover. Get the food ready for brother and sister.
5. 8:00am – Get the twins ready for school. Make all our beds and empty the bins. Make sure mums ok then get all our equipment and money ready.
6. 8:30am – Take my brother and sister to school and then walk to my own school.
7. 9:00am – I arrive at school which finishes at 3pm.
8. 3:15pm – Pick up the twins from their school.
9. 3:45pm – Make sure mum is ok and then go shopping with the twins to get the food we need and any cleaning stuff. Go to the chemist.
10. 5:30pm – We get home and sort the twins out and make sure mum’s ok. I then put the shopping away and clean the house.
11. 7:30pm – Get the bath ready for the twins and then help them get ready for bed.
12. 8:00pm – Help mum into the bath and help her get ready for bed.
13. 8:30pm – I try and quickly do some homework.
14. 9:00pm – Have a bath and get ready for bed.
15. 9:30pm – Watch T.V.
16. 10:00pm – Go to bed.

“As you can see I’m really busy. When I’m at school I’m worrying about my mum and so I’m finding it difficult to concentrate, I’m always worried about whether I can do the homework or not, no-one actually knows about my circumstances.

I don’t think my friends would understand although they are all really nice. I’m always having to make excuses why I can’t meet up with them or why I can’t go to their house or they can’t come to mine.
Life can be really stressful ‘cause I’m up so early and then I find it difficult to get to sleep as I’m worrying about how I am going to fit it all in, the housework and everything. I worry about my mum but I also worry about the twins ‘cause I don’t want them to go through what I’m going through.”

Advice from the Young Carers Consultation Group

Hi Charlie!
Thanks for sharing your story with us. We understand your role ‘cause we’re all young carers. We’ve got together to talk about your story and we think the best thing to do would be to find someone you could speak to. It could be anyone that is going to listen to you. People we’ve spoken to in the past have been our favourite teachers, doctors or school nurses. Ultimately it can be anyone you trust.