It is a good thing that I got this opportunity to think back to my childhood and reminisce how my parents reacted to some situations, guided my brother and me, participated in school or extracurricular events, and got into occasional shouting matches. Both my parents grew up poor, but got good education and well paying jobs. As a result, as children, we never had reason to think or worry about poverty. However, whenever we did not get what we wanted, events happened that did not suit our liking or we simply happen to disagree, I used to think “that I don’t want to be like them.” My theory in those days was that my parents were behaving or acting like they do because of their tough, poor childhood. In several of the situations of disagreement or discord, I repeatedly promised myself that I would not be like my parents to my children. Little did I realize in those days that I, as grown up, would be behaving and acting very much the same as my parents. Let me elaborate more with a few examples to illustrate my point.
MY DEFINITION OF PARENT
I had some distinct and hard to forget opinions or definitions for a parent. Central among those include a parent should devote all their energy and focus on children. Everything else is secondary including a life of their own, job, friends or other hobbies and distractions. Now that I have my own children, and as they are growing up, I am getting into the same situations that my parents got into with me.
Conclusion. While the role and responsibility of a parent are primarily geared towards children, there certainly would be society or job functions that shape this role. Having grown up, I am now certain that I and my parents are very much similar when it comes to stepping into fulfill our obligations and responsibilities. We both hold the same beliefs, values, and expectations. I believe that I am following the same path that my father set in me without my realization. I hope to create a path of my own, at least for solving some problems.
