My mom was and is an amazing parent. My dad is an amazing.....businessman. I dont even know the guy, really. But he's been amazingly successful and recently got appointed Ambassador by the Pres, so I'm proud for him for that. But as a father....well, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Too bad for him though, my siblings and I are great people and I dont think he knows it.
Good point...my parents had some issues growing up. My Mom grew up in a very poor family. Therefore, she never had much for X-mas, birthdays, etc. . Her father was also not a very good parent to her. He would drink a lot and sleep around. He never could make up for that. One of the last times my Mom saw him he was balling his eyes out because he knew he was a lousy father and he couldn't do a thing to make up for it. My Dad lived in a family with more money. However, he did not have good communication at all with his parents. It didn't help that when my Dad was a child his father was fighting in WWII and was captured serving as a POW for 4 years. So, my Dad essentially grew up without a father. It's amazing to me that they(my Dad and his parents) don't seem to communicate much at all about any topics worth a sh*t. It's more of a "how you doing?" kind of conversation and then it turns trivial. My Dad was always great about supporting me financially. Unfortunately, since my parents grew up in a different time, they didn't really have the same issues that I grew up with. So, I can understand them not knowing how to talk to me about them. They had tough lives growing up and they made something of themselves. Unfortunately, they didn't have peer pressure and the kinds of bad things propogating back then that we have today. I can't really fault them for how they raised me. I had everything I could want financially. Unfortunately, I had to learn the harder aspects of life first-hand without any fore-knowledge. All they could do was react and, by then, it was kind of too late. Well, I am financially independent now and have done fine for myself. I'm not perfect by any stretch but who is? Things could have been a whole lot worse for me growing up. My Dad always tried to be strict but it was more things like doing my homework and making good grades than anything else. They kept me on the education path which is good. I guess ultimately I am responsible for my own actions even though I was young and didn't know any better. I was just too young to be confronted with grown up issues like that. It didn't help that I was hanging out with older neighborhood kids back then.
I have good parents. They kicked me out twice and forced me to see what life is really about AND THEN they let me move back in a year later and hooked me up with some cash to get back to college. Thanks mummy and daddy!!!
Dude, you're outta your mind. Let her put a guilt trip on you and let me come beat your ass with your drumsticks. You'll be changing your user id to Ima_Dummy. Guilt trip indeed.
They knew when to kick me out and they knew when to take me back. Both happened twice and I'm very thankful for each time.
You say, "What did you to do to my boy, mother****er!?" I know there is a social dynamic among the adults that cannot be simply ignored. But, I also think parents are usually too apologetic for and embarrased by their children. They're children; they do whacky stuff. If other adults can't understand that, excuses won't help. But, you have to say something to fill the void. I'll come up with something, and it'll probably sound stupid, but it won't be an accusation of shyness. I managed to not ask anyone at a high school reunion what kind of work they did; I can do this as well.
Aw, man! The guilt trip was horrible, I'm telling you. Then again, I was pretty good in high school. I made up for lost time in college 30-fold though. She doesn't know one tenth of the crap I pulled in college. If she did, she probably would beat me!
I think my parents did a great job raising me and my siblings. The only thing I see wrong now is that we were raised with Eastern culture, and that doesn't fit all that well here. You need to be a little more aggressive here, and we were taught to be reserved, extremely well mannered, and to be very restrained in expressing displeasure, or any emotion for that matter. We got whooped, but my eldest brother more than me or my sister. We also never heard how much our parents loved us or whatever, and thank God for that ... if they ever said it, it would make me so uneasy, I'd know the end was near, or my folks were preparing to kill me. We also never got talks on anything like sex or drugs or anything, but somehow it was understood that such things wouldn't be tolerated, and so none of us ever had a problem with it, we just never did it. We have an extremely close relationship, our entire family ... we talk everyday, for my siblings who don't live close anymore ... they visit at least once a month ... so it's great, no complaints. Now that my parents are getting on in years, it's even better cuz they can't really make many decisions for us, but they're always there when we need them.
I'd be interested in tightening the focus of the responses along the lines of my original line of inquiry: <b>what did they do</b> that was great or horrible? State it plainly.
To quote Houston's own Greg Wood (from the song "No ****"), "I said Ma, I know I been a bad son. I never wrote, never used the telephone. Cashed all your checks, never said thanks. But did you ever stop to think, it's the way I was raised"
My parents were horrible. They weren't that bad. The only thing I don't like is they took out my brain! That is why I am unfortunately who I am today.
One thing I appreciate my parents is that they are impartial to us, or least try very hard to be impartial. I mean, they had all the reasons to show favoritism on me. I was the best in almost everything in the family (not bragging, just an objective observation, if you believe me ). But they didn't. I cringe when I see parents playing faroritism among their kids.
I feel bad talking about my parents in any kind of negative way. They are good parents regardless of whether we had those talks. I know a lot of parents don't have those talks with their kids and their kids do alright. I just had some f*cked up scenarios which led me down the wrong path. The lack of these talks was only one of many things making up these scenarios. Plus, if you don't do it before it all starts, then it is too late. That is what I would warn new parents about. One thing especially...don't let your kids grow up hanging around older kids in the neighborhood. That is a recipe for disaster because the older kids get into the bad things and the younger kids are right there as well except they don't have the knowledge or those extra years to make good decisions. Their more likely to succumb to the pressure. I know there are millions of kids out there who would love to have my parents so I am pretty fortunate. I did many things I regret and will always regret. My parents always tried to do the right thing even when they didn't know what to do. I hear these rules of knowing things about what your kid is up to phrased as "What? When? Where? Who?". I was asked these questions plenty of times. Unfortunately, I was good at lying when asked these questions and there were always details left out.
My mom was the best mom anyone could wish for. I'd pulled the crazies stunts and get into a lot of trouble. She basically lost control of me when I turned 13 and she relinquished me to become my own man. She let me find out who I really am and let me make mistakes to become a better person for myself. Honestly, letting your child go crazy and letting him find his own way is a pretty liberal idea, but I found my way sooner than a lot of people I know. I wouldn't recommend it, but there are people is this world that can't be controlled and have to be set free to find their own way. She knew this and she raised me to become the man (or boy) I am today. I love you Mom. PS-Dad you suck In the immortal words of tupac: There's now way i can pay you back, But my plan is to show you that I understand
My parents are great, at least with how they've been raising me so far. (still got another couple of years till I'll be "on my own.") Dad- Great person. First off, I want to say this man has totally changed his life. He used to do every type of drug there was and he didn't even graduate high school. However, he got his GED, quit most of the bad drugs before we were born and later quit drinking and smoking completely when I was real young. He works his butt off to make sure we get all the things we like, such as video game consoles, TV's, DVD's, satellite, etc. He also cooks and cleans. Mom- Dated my dad, so obviously she did some things, but not as bad as my dad. She usually does the cooking, cleaning, etc, while also working at a job that sucks. As a kid, she would volunteer at my school and bake goodies for the class. They would give us spankings if we deserved it, but those we usually a last resort. Maybe it is just my personality, but I don't act good so that I can get stuff or because I'm scared of them, I just don't want to dissapoint them. They put a BIG emphasis on education. They must be informed about school pretty much daily. As for the "talks," we kind of talked about drugs but mostly because of their past. Now sex we haven't talked about, but I'd rather not discuss it with them anyways...uh...no..too awkward. My sisters are now in the real world, but my parents still help them, while still showing them how to live. EX: My parents basically told my sister and her husband they better get a car before December because the car they let them use will then be mine. There are too many things I would like to mention about my parents. I really love them and feel very lucky to be their son. Aw, isn't that sweet?
RC, One of the best things your parents do is to let you post in here. They do impose an online time limit on you, don't they? Or do they know what you are doing waiting all your time here?
RC -- good for you...make sure you do a good job of telling your parents how you feel...we don't have forever to do that.
Amen to that. I have undoubtedly the greatest parents in the world and I never hesitate to let them know that and that I love them.
