The introduction

 In the city of Memphis, a family of three resided in a two-story house. It was around Christmas time. The parents were downstairs in the family room watching a family Christmas movie. The 17 year old child was upstairs with the door closed, playing games with his friends online.

“David, do you wanna come downstairs and watch the movie with us?”, the mother asked.

“No thanks, I’m in the middle of something”, he replied.

“But you rarely spend time with us. I think it’d be best if you put the game aside and come down to watch the movie with us”, the father budded in. There was no reply. “Ugh, I regret buying him that thing. He’s too focused on playing that stupid console. Maybe we should consider taking it away from him”.

“That may be a good idea, but I’m scared that he will hate us for the rest of his life”, the mother responded.

“Well, that’s just a part of being a parent. Our job isn’t to be the boy’s best friend. We want to raise him to be respectful and selfless. If it means that he will temporarily hate us, I’ll take that risk”, the father stated. The two parents walked upstairs and arrived at David’s room. They opened the door.

“Hey David, we need to talk to you about your Xbox”, the mother said.

“Well, I’m kinda busy right now, we can talk about it later”, he replied.

“And that’s the problem. You’re always busy. We never get a chance to spend time with you or talk about what’s going on in your life”, the father explained. There was a short pause. “Therefore, we will be taking your Xbox away for the weekend so we can have fun together, with the family”.

“WHAT!”, David yelled. “Sorry guys I have to hop off for tonight, something has come up”, he said to his friends online. “I don’t understand why y’all are taking it away. I’m 17 years old and I want to have privacy and independence to do whatever I want. Not to mention this is my Christmas break and I don’t want to be spending it watching lame Christmas movies with you guys.”, he went on.

“It’s not about the Christmas movies, it’s about spending time as a family. How many times to I have to repeat this to you?”, the mother questioned.

“I just don’t find it that much fun to spend time with you guys”, David responded.

“You know what, you are so ungrateful for all the love we give you. You are so ungrateful for EVERYTHING we do for you. We go out of our way to make time to spend with you, but every single time we ask you to come, you ALWAYS reject us. You know how many children out there are dying to spend time with their parents. Their parents may be dead, or their parents simply don’t care enough to love or care for them. You are so privileged to have parents and moreover have parents that really care about you and will do anything to help you succeed. On top of all that, you’re selfish. You only care about yourself and what you and you could do to benefit yourself. The only time you come to us is when you need help. You never come to us to ask us about our day, find out what’s going on in our lives. You simply aren’t interested in anyone other than yourself”, the father exploded. He then moves toward the Xbox and unplugs it. He carries it away from David’s dresser and exits the room. His mom tries to comfort him.

“Go away!”, he exclaimed. “I want to be alone right now”. She leaves the room and closes the door. David sits on his bed, enraged.