In my last post about appreciation, it focused on relationships. Here, right now, I’d like to focus on family. Parents versus their kids. That doesn’t sound good, like they’re playing on two separate teams…but in a way, they are. It’s a constant problem within families that the child feels unappreciated for the things he or she does. Personally, I believe that parents need to recognize the fact that your kid is not going to be what you expected. Us “kids” come in all different varieties, and you can’t plan out our personalities. You can do your best to raise us to be mannered, poised, success-driven people, but we will always branch out to other things as well. We will disappoint you, and you have to prepare yourself for that. However, it’s not like we wake up each morning and think, “Oh, I wonder what will make my mom mad today. I think I’m gonna do that.” We do want you to be proud of us, and when you’re not, well that causes us to push you away.
Parents say that kids become rebellious when they reach their teenage years. That’s also the time when we figure out how we want to live our lives. We become young adults, and we go through the same stress as you parents do. You forget things, so will we. We might forget to do the dishes, or vacuum, because we got caught up in making posters for student council, or practicing for an upcoming game, or making an outline for a big paper we have to write. We know you’re gonna be mad, but it’s not the end of the world if we leave a cup on the counter. LIke I mentioned, we forget things. Chores are not going to be a priority for us, we’re gonna look at the big picture. “What will dad be more disappointed in me for, not taking out the trash, or getting a C in my Algebra class?”
Coming from kids everywhere, please appreciate us a bit more. Tell us that you’re proud of us. Tell us that you see that we’re working hard, and you know we’re going to go far in life. Don’t be a hypocrite, we follow what you do; you can’t get mad at us for that. We’re trying our best to get our lives together, so we can grow up and be successful, and hopefully come back and share that with you guys. So please, ease up a bit when we’re going through a rough time.
Forever Thoughtful 