Parents

Parents can be hard to understand and talk to, but they can also be the best people to talk to. Even though I do not tell my parents everything about myself, or everything that I do everyday, I do talk to them when needed. I can talk to my mother about many things, but the same does not apply with my father. This might be caused by my father’s closed mind. He is a very inside-the-box type of person. As time goes on and things change, he does not, and his old style of thinking is not easy to deal with at times. On the other hand, my mother is open to many different things and topics, which is why I feel comfortable talking to her about my friends or school. Talking to my mom about situations that confuse me, or decisions that make me feel uncomfortable is a nice way to get through everything. I believe that as I grow older, I become more secretive about my social life, but I believe that as I continue growing, things will become less complicated and I will be able to talk to my mother about many different aspects of my life once again.

Although my parents are always there for me if I need them, it is much easier to confront my friends about situations in school or within my group of friends. It is hard to talk to someone who does not attend my school or hang out with my friends for help in those subjects, which is why I deal with those problems directly with the person or people who are involved. It would be nice to know that my parents went through similar situations as I am going through now and that they would be able to give their input, but that is unrealistic, because my parents grew up in completely different situations than the one that I am growing up in. My mother grew up in Dominican Republic with eight brothers, one sister, and her parents. My father grew up in Cuba with his three brothers, his sister, and his parents. I am growing up in Hillsdale, New Jersey, which is completely different than the places that they grew up in for many reasons, including financial reasons. My friends, sister, and brothers grew up in similar situations as mine, so talking to them is much easier than talking to my parents at times.

Parents are looked up to for many reasons, and usually at one point or another; their children view them as heroes. When a child thinks so highly of his or her parents, it puts a lot of pressure on the parents to do the best job they can as parents. They try to keep that unrealistic role as the perfect parents. Every parent will make a mistake with his or her children, and the worst part of that is the disappointment. Disappointing a child because they could not get a video game or a toy is not a big deal, because that would be forgotten soon enough. The worst disappointment is that which comes from making a mistake that changes a child’s perception of his or her parents. This works vice versa also, because a child that is so highly appreciated is expected to do the best that he or she can, and when it appears that the best was not done, disappointment could be the worst punishment. Parents and children do not like being disappointed with each other, because it shows a sign of weakness in their relationships, and it means that something has to be fixed. Nonetheless, with disappointment can come bonding through realizing that continuing the feeling of disappointment is not worth ruining a strong relationship over.