LETTER TO THE EDITOR: FORMER TEEN THANKS PARENTS
by Sarah Sonne
The Belleville Intelligencer, December 2 2009
Re: 10 Things Every Parent Should Know
As a young person who has recently moved out on her own, and graduated from "teenager" to "adult," I would like to pitch my two cents in on this article.
Thank you to my parents for feeding me when I hated your food. Now that I know how expensive food is, I see the value in my vegetables.
Thank you for letting me live in your home when I treated it like trash. Now I understand what bills are and why 45 minute showers took away from things you probably wanted, like nice clothes or a date night.
Thank you for listening when I didn't listen back. I realize now that communication is a two way street -- kind of like respect. Yet you gave me more respect than I ever gave you.
Thanks for paying for things like clothes, gas, cellphone bills, etc. when my part-time paycheque went to things like magazines, 100 shades of eyeshadow and potato chips.
Thanks for giving up your life to raise me, from gross diapers to bloody knees, to raging hormones and screaming matches. You didn't have to do that. I realize now the depth of love that lost sleep takes.
To all other parents out there, thank you for doing the same for your kids. Someday, they will get it -- parents are people too. And intelligent and selfless ones at that.
In short, I have realized that life isn't all about me, and that being a parent is a huge sacrifice and a debt that can only be paid back and truly understood by experiencing parenthood myself.
To the author of this article I have one piece of sincere advice: grow up. Your parents love you -- if they didn't, they would be taking your advice and ignoring you. Act like an adult, and your parents will treat you like one. Until then, being grounded for a week might save your life.
