While I won't complain about having parents, I'm still going to criticize their actions. They're my parents and I'm not wrong for what I'm going to say.

Growing up, one would assume that my parents would talk to me about life, that I would have an actual talk about dating and sex. I thought she would talk to me about my body and all of its changes. I thought that my dad would have taught me about cars.

Nope.

The only sex talk I received from my mom was and I quote, "Don't get pregnant." That was literally it. No more, no less. She didn't teach me about my period. School did. School told me about puberty and the fact that I'll bleed one week every month. When I told her that I started my period, she was like "okay" and then started buying me pads. I also googled the female reproductive tract. I sat at the computer for various amounts of time and looked at diagrams of a vagina. She did teach me how to put on a bra so kudos for that, Mother.

My dad - I honestly don't know what to say. It's nothing bad. It's just that he didn't become as prominent in my life until my mom died. Even then, there were other women figures in my life to help me along the way, somewhat. When I got older, I expected him to start teaching me about cars and how they work and what I should look for in a car. The most I know is about gas (of course), how to figure out the type of oil a vehicle needs, and when to add some. The cap usually has the type you need but I never know if it needs full synthetic or not.

My dad tried being the macho superior man and honestly, got on every one of my last nerves. He thought he knew it all and wouldn't listen to what I had to say. He assumed that since he was the adult and I was the child, that my knowledge was inferior and I was wrong. Eight times out of ten I was right.

My dad did teach me how to cook. Most people would assume that my mom taught me, while she did a little, my dad made me the chef of the house. I would brag about my skills but, it's been about two years since I've cooked a home cooked meal. My skills could use some improvement.

So while most of this sounds like I hate or highly dislike my parents, it's the complete opposite - I love my parents, don't get me wrong. It's just that sometimes I feel like I missed out on having a relationship with them because of how they raised me. It's like I learned other things from them because of my childhood went. I don't totally blame them, I blame how and when they were raised. I'm a child of my times in a sense.

I wasn't able to talk to them about whatever was going with me. I didn't tell them a lot about how I was feeling and how I viewed myself. They didn't make it easy to come to them for anything. If I brought up one thing, they would assume I was doing it or being sneaky. I brought up birth control to my dad and he assumed I was having sex. I told him that the birth control would help my period but that didn't help my case. They also assumed that since I was a child, I didn't have emotions, that I couldn't be stressed or tired.

From that though, I learned more about myself. I learned that I didn't want to be like my parents. I don't want my children to be afraid to come to me for anything. I want them to know that I'm all ears and I won't shove my foot down their throat. They taught me to be independent, not fully, but enough. I can cook and I've learned to ask for help. I learned through my friends and people I've met in college that just because they didn't actually tell me a lot of things, I still have time to learn. I learned by watching them and begun to use their actions to figure out life.