Many of us tend to dwell on the wrong doings of our parents. In high school, we found it easy to blame them for things due to being too strict or overbearing. As we fly the coop and start living our lives based off our choices as individuals, we realize that every parents decision in the past was simply because they loved us. 

College is a time for growth and discovery, but part of figuring out who we are take reflection on where we come from and how we were raised. Our parents have a tremendous amount of influence on who we become. Before college it was common for us to see our parents choices as them trying to "sabotage" our lives. This issue may have caused tension, anger, or distance in your household, making it impossible for compromise or understanding. As we face reality on our own we begin to see the decisions we had made for us by our parents prepare us for when we had to make them ourselves. If we're endlessly blaming them for things, it can be difficult to see how great our parents really are. Those small but once seemed so big issues are just a reflection of how our relationships with our parents grow as we do. 

There is no guidebook on how to raise a child. Raising a family is a learning experience all on its own. The choices they make for us are not to make things difficult but to make things easier for us in our future. I'm not saying it's not frustrating or annoying to be controlled by your parents, but I think it is important to recognize that our parents aren't perfect; they just simply want the best for us and love us unconditionally. 

We tend to forget that love can be measured in more ways than one. We all have our own individual ideas on how we want our parents to treat us. We argue for freedom and trust, but fail to understand that those can only be given when our parents feel safe enough to give those privileges. Any parents worst nightmare would to lose a child and they will do everything in their power to keep them safe. 

It's important to consider things from your parents' perspective. To us we see them as being overprotective, but to them they see it as a form of love. Some might say love is when you tell someone you love him or her every day; others may say it's the amount of good things you do for someone. No matter how old I am I will always enjoy hearing two phrases from my parents, "I'm proud of you" and "I love you".  Now just think that every time your parent makes a choice for you that you may not agree with, it is not because they don't care but because they love you more than words could ever explain. 

So you didn't get to go to a party or you had to be home earlier than your friends? There's nothing you can do about the past, but think about its impact on your future. Did that party ruin the rest of your life? Probably not. Salvage what is left of you and your parents relationship. Now that you have matured, allow for your relationship to grow further than the parent child relationship. Now is your time to create an everlasting friendship with someone who at the end of the day loves and accepts you for the person you are. 

Time is valuable, so understand your parents the same way you hope to be understood by them. In the end, everyone- even parents- just want to be loved and understood.