While I’ve been working with teens these few years, I’ve come to realize that there is a point in every child’s life where mom and dad go from being heroes to zeros. When does this happen? It is different for everyone but generally the loathing of the parents seems to begin in the adolescent years -continuing and peaking through our teenage years and then…suddenly in our 20s…we gain a whole new respect for our parents.
When does THIS happen? How does it take place?
When did you first realize that your parents got up early EVERY DAY to go to work and provide for the family? When did you realize that a family vacation cost money and a trip to the mountians, or the beach, or Disney World was not free?!? I remember, years agowhen I was still a teen, my dad offered to pay me and my brother $20 each if we’d trim the trees in the back yard and we looked at him like, “20 bucks! That’s it?”
I’m at the age now where I’m looking at these teens I serve at church and I’m thinking, “They don’t get it, they just don’t understand…yet.”
At the same time, I’m at the age where I now know I still don’t get it…not all of it…not yet. I am at a place where I know how very little I know.
My parents survived raising me and my brother. And they didn’t just survive, they succeeded.
So, when did your mom and dad become cool again?
What you said