Growing up, I like most other children, thought my parents were out of touch and had no clue. Granted, there were times as a child I would say or do something that was completely out of touch with their reality, but on a whole, I viewed them as being a bit "off." Even growing older in my teens and early twenties, my perception of them stayed pretty much the same.
Now, as a parent myself of a thirteen year old son, my eyes are open and I see more than I ever have before. I like to think my wife and I have done a great job with our son and he doesn't look at us the way we did with our parents. But the more I watch him, the more I'm convinced my parents were alright. The more I'm assured that what I perceived as "out of touch parents" was way off base.
Like my parents, I'm doing everything I can to give my son the best life possible. Sometimes that means working longer or harder and sometimes it means discipline. But in all things, I do everything I can with a sense of love and duty for our son. For a long time I didn't see that in my parents but not because they weren't showing it, but because I refused to see it. They did the best they could with the hand they were dealt and it made me the man I am today. For a long time I tried to not see that, but as I grow a little bit older, I see it now.
It's strange seeing things from a parents eye when for so long it was through the view of being a child. Holding on to those old, immature feelings only gets in the way of a great relationship with my parents and stunts the growth of mine with my son. By recognizing this, I think I've come to a place where I can start to be a little bit more mature in my thoughts and actions and hopefully let those whom I love know how much they mean to me.
