Be Your Own Parent
No one really tells you that after your parents wash their hands of you, it means you have to become your own parent in a way. All that new freedom suddenly has to be managed by a responsible adult you.
When we are young, all we’d do is look in the fridge and shout there’s no juice or the milk is done. Hey mom my clothes are small or my shoes no longer fit. After a day or even the same day, all these problems would be solved.
Now that you the parent, when the fridge is empty or clothes no longer fit you have to go out and look for things. Make sure that you do not starve and have your clothes that aren’t mistaken to belong to John The Baptist.
Not a soul liked being told what time to go to bed and get up. How much TV you could watch. How long you could play with your friends. What time you should get home. Chores and the rest. Anything a kid despises. But now you are the person who has to tell yourself these exact same things.
Some of us hated it when our parents unremittingly told us not to go to so and so’s place. Don’t play with him/her they aren’t good for you. Sometimes if not most they were right.
Now that I am older I have to do this all on my own, which is harder cause there are some genuinely fun people regrettably, that is all they are.
I could go on and on but you can pick on the pattern here. We having to parent ourselves is a crucial part of being an adult. And like a good parent, the needs take precedence over the wants. Paramountly like our parents be patient, loving, caring, and forgiving of ourselves.
After a couple years, it is like our parents grow backward. We have to become parents to them. We have to love and care for them in the way that they did for us. Which I think is a beautiful cycle.
