Parents

I know I wasn't the easiest kid to raise. I tested my parents to their limits on almost everything I could think of. Always pushing the boundaries to see what I could get away with, trying to see how far I could go. Staying at a friend's house for 15 minutes longer than I was allowed too. Waiting until the very last minute before I went to bed. Talking on the phone until they had to ask me for the third time to please say goodbye and put down the phone. There are literally thousands of examples, and all of them tested my parents in some way or another. The funny part of it was that when I did get into trouble about it, there was that promise I made to myself to never be like them.

My child was going to be allowed to drive around without a license when he had he's learners, he was going to be allowed to go to parties before he or she was eighteen, and he/she was going to be allowed to stay up and watch whatever he or she wanted to. No going to bed early because it was a school night, or not going to a friend's house because there was no adult supervision present. My kids would make their own mistakes and then learn from them in their own way. They would be reprimanded if they didn't learn what they had done wrong.

Me doing the right thing...in the wrong way.

The reality of it all is, and I realise this more and more every day, that I am like my parents. I find myself saying things my parents always told me when I was a kid. Thinking the same things they did when I see a little brat do something that would have gotten me a hiding, guaranteed! Doing something I would have despised my parents for doing when I was a little younger, and then realising what I had just done. Making a mistake and then shouting at myself for what I had done, probably using the exact same words my parents would have used.

We are all, in some way or another, like our parents.



The face....after being disciplined.



I pride myself in knowing that I don't group people and say we are all the same, because we aren't. Every single one of us is unique and different. Sure we have the same traits and we share common interests, but we are all different in a way. I say this because some people would argue that they were raised by alcoholics, yet they don't touch the stuff. Some might have been raised by abusive parents, they wouldn't hurt a fly, and yet even they are in some distinct way like their parents.

It just makes me smile to think that when I was younger I swore that, no matter what, I would be different with my children. I would allow them to do the things I never got to do. And yet, I didn't turn out too bad? If you gave me a chance to go back and change, I would not change a single aspect of what my parents did. I would however, tell younger me to listen more and attitude less!

I just hope that I can also be as good a parent to my kids, as my parents were and still are to me. Buy a puppy, its good for practice :)

My loving, caring, strict and AWESOME parents!