To unsupportive mothers and fathers everywhere:
Your opinion is the most important and the only one your child is always going to hear. It is your job to give them confidence and hope. When you are raising them, it matters how much you support them, or don't. And once they're grown up, it matters how much you support them, or don't.
Your support or lack thereof can make or break the way your baby lives life. When you don't support your child, they have no confidence in their own decisions. Every time you let them know that you think what they choose is wrong, they become more and more afraid to make the choices they want to make and become more and more inclined to make the decisions you want for them. Guess what? Your child is not you, nor should they be a reflection of who you wish you were. That's called Narcissistic Parenting. Look it up. No matter how much you want to, you will never be able to force them to make the decisions you want them to make, and when they don't you have to love them anyway. That's what parenting it. You love your child no matter what. real love doesn't come with conditions. No matter who they date, where they go or what they do, you love them and you support them.
One day, your child is going to face a life-changing decision, and even if they know what is best for them, they will question it because they will be afraid of what you think. And when they make the decision anyway, it's going to hurt them when you don't support their decision. It could be the best thing that ever happened to them, and you are going to miss it because you are so enraged that they made a different decision than you would have made.
When you don't support your child, it hurts them, and it hurts your relationship with them. It's going to hurt their relationships with other people. I was lucky because I knew my parents would always love me no matter what decisions I made, whether they liked them or not. Make sure your child knows and don't mess it all up just because your child is not you.
There is a John Mayer Song that says, "Fathers, be good to your daughters. Daughters will love like you do. Girls become lovers who turn into mothers, so mothers, be good to your daughters too." If you don't love them, they will never know how to love. If you don't tell them you love them and show them you love them, they will never know how to love. That's not something anyone should ever have to go through life without.
Support them. Love them. No matter what.
