Dear Parents,
We as children understand that your jobs are hard. Shuffling kids around from soccer practice to dance lessons, music recitals and family events is hard work, and we appreciate all that you've done for us over the years. And even though most of us won't openly admit it, as adults we still need you. But as adults, we've also seen you struggle. As kids we saw how tired you were at the end of a long work day or how disappointed you were when we didn't do the right thing in the end. So here's some advice: from child to parent.
Slow down.
I know our lives are super busy now, and you don't always know what's going on with us, but don't worry. You have taught us well. You've spent years upon years teaching us how to stand on our own. Take a breath. If anyone deserves it, it's you. Take care of our younger siblings but don't hesitate to call, text or email (whatever your preference is) if you need a little help. It's the least we can do for the sacrifices you've made for us.
Don't think that we take you for granted.
It's easy to misunderstand the times that we as children forget to say please and thank you as us expecting you to do things for us. But, believe me when I tell you, everything you do is noticed and appreciated. Besides the whole life-giving thing you guys did for us, you've also managed to get us to doctor's appointments, school functions work, and about a million other places we couldn't get to on our own. So just because our childish selves forget to say please and thank you sometimes doesn't mean that your efforts go unnoticed.
Don't try to be our best friends.
We appreciate the effort, really we do. But, at the end of the day it's nice to know that we have people in our lives who aren't going to tell us that we should just sneak out of the house or go out with that boy even though he's bad news. We want parents, after all. Someday, when we have our own kids, we will raise them based on what we liked and didn't like about how we were raised (within reason). So it's totally OK to put your foot down once in a while and tell us we're being ridiculous. We may say we hate you, but we don't really mean it.
Lastly, know that we as children, love you.
Funny how parents say that they never knew real love until they had a child — at least I hear it from parents all the time. But, really we as children don't know any love but the love you've shown us first. So that unconditional love you've displayed all our lives, is the unconditional love we feel for you. So if you ever feel like you're doing a bad job, you've made a wrong decision, or you just don't "like" us so much, know that we love you — unconditionally and without judgement because after all, we all make mistakes, we are all human, and while you may be parents you're not expected to be perfect all of the time.
So relax a little...
