[Erutpar]

How many of you have thanked your parents for something you didn't agree on when you were younger? If so, what was it?

When I was young my mom limited my video game playing time. I'm so glad she did because I absolutely hate them now and even feel I wasted part of my childhood on that crap.

 

[kyliecarefree]

My parents didn't put a lot of restrictions on me. If I was behaving myself, I was pretty much left to my own devices. I retrospect, I wish they had enforced healthy eating and family exercise. Fortunately I haven't developed a ton of bad habits, despite (Or maybe because of?) their liberal parenting attitude.

Some things they did enforce were regular bedtimes, which many a night I defied with a book and a flashlight.

 

[ethylester]

My parents limited the amount of tv I watched and also would not let me get a video game system until I was in high school. At that point, it was the mid '90s and I was allowed to get AN ATARI. yes, not a Nintendo, but an Atari 2600 in 1995. haha. I am glad about the TV because I did a lot more creative things without it. But I am 50/50 on the video game thing. I am not interested in video games at all and it's probably because i never really played them when I was young. But now when I try to play one, I absolutely suck, so there is something to be said about learning the hand-eye thing young. Or maybe i'm just horribly uncoordinated...

Also, I remember sort of wanting to get my eyebrow pierced when I was about 16 and my mom was adamantly against it. I wasn't heartbroken or anything, but i am glad she didn't let me do it because I would not be wearing it anymore at this point and I would probably have a scar.

When I was growing up, my parents did not allow me to eat any foods with tons of food coloring in them. A piece of candy every once in a while was fine, but I couldn't go to the store and pick out a box of Lucky Charms, I had to get Cheerios. I couldn't get Kool-Aid, I had to get Ocean Spray juice. Stuff like that. They also wouldn't let me chew gum with sugar in it. Everyone else got Hubba Bubba and I was stuck with Extra. I never developed a real sweet tooth or had a cavity, and maybe that has something to do with it. Also, I hear that certain food colorings were suspect in causing hyper activity, so I am glad that I can concentrate.

One thing I do not thank my parents for is something they never told me about, but I heard second hand from a friend whose parents told them what my mom did. In 5th grade I was friends with this girl Emily. Emily was tons of fun, we did everything together. She was one of the most creative, fun, energetic friends I ever had, we even made up our own language. But she was from the wrong side of the tracks, if you know what I mean. Her family lived in a shack of a house on the poor side of town and according to my mom, Emily had no manners. But I didn't notice or care about these things when I was 10. I just knew Emily was fun as hell and we got along. Apparently, when me and her went into 6th grade, my mom called the school and specifically requested that they not put Emily and I in any classes together. So they obliged and it broke up our friendship since we never saw each other anymore. I missed her a lot. She turned out to be sort of a drugee in high school but she was still a cool person, we just weren't friends anymore and it was because we never saw each other in school ever again. I can't believe my mom did that. That offends me.

 

[Erutpar]

Apparently, when me and her went into 6th grade, my mom called the school and specifically requested that they not put Emily and I in any classes together. So they obliged and it broke up our friendship since we never saw each other anymore. I missed her a lot. She turned out to be sort of a drugee in high school but she was still a cool person, we just weren't friends anymore and it was because we never saw each other in school ever again. I can't believe my mom did that. That offends me.

Shit. That's heavy like Romeo and Juliet. Write a script. Sell it to a famous producer. Then you can thank your mom for what she did.

 

[ethylester]

Shit. That's heavy like Romeo and Juliet. Write a script. Sell it to a famous producer. Then you can thank your mom for what she did.

haha, that's a damn good idea

 

[JigglyJello]

I gotta say my parents were right on a lot of the things they told me.

But that's not what bothered me. What bothered me was when they said, "Because", or, "Because I said so", and "Because I'm your parent." And I wasn't the type of person to endlessly ask why. The only times I did ask why was when they said these lines and would not give me a reason. Not something to prove and dominate their authority.

I was a good kid! The least could say was, "I think it's unsafe for you to and I'm worried because X and X could happen." Explain to me. Give me reasons, thoughts, something to take into account. And talk to me and let me explain my side of things so that you can explain to me how I'm wrong! :angry:

 

[basementbugs]

I haven't actually thanked him, but I am now very thankful that my dad decided not to have home internet access when I was growing up. Having the internet at home wasn't really a common thing till I was about 11 or 12 anyway (I'm an '85 baby), but as a teenager I wished we had home access an awful lot. Now I'm 27 and I feel so connected to everything all the time... and I'm growing to hate it. Life was simpler without internet; I'm pretty sure it's greatly messed with my ability to focus and concentrate, and played a significant role in worsening my depression. I don't believe I'm addicted exactly, but I can't seem to be strong enough to pull myself away from being online most of the time. (A lot of that via my iPhone; I don't sit in front of my computer from the moment I wake up to when I go to bed.)

So yes, I'm so glad I didn't have 24/7 access as a kid or a teenager. I miss when wanting to use the internet meant going to the public library anywhere from a couple times a month to a couple times a week at the most, to use a computer for maybe an hour or two (often less).

 

[Mr Canis]

I didn't thank them, but I should have before it was too late.

 

[bromide]

I can't actually think of anything. My mom wasn't around enough when I was growing up to really enforce things like bed times or television rules or the structure that a lot of kids have. The only thing I can think of that she made me do which I resented was going to Catholic school and church and both of those things gave me a large dose of contempt for religion which stands with me to this day.

 

[Jayy Bird]

I've always just kind of blindly followed along with whatever my parents wanted, they gave me a bedtime (but it didn't matter if I was up late I wouldn't really get in trouble).

I guess I thank my mom for taking me to church all these years, really it may sound dorky and the people at church may have cause me to live in a hell, but I eventually got to the point that I loved people so much so that I could handle all the crap without holding a grudge.

I should really tell her thank you

 

[kaleidoscope]

When I was in high school, I went kind of wild. I completely rejected my studies, I wanted to have fun and be "cool" like everyone else, and I simply hated the control my parents had on me. It was very irritating, because I had the notion in my head that it was because of my parents that I didn't have as much friends, while really, I guess it was kind of who I was. I wasn't one to have many friends.

Anyway, I was in a class full of guys, with like 5 girls maybe? Naturally, that only made it worse because the pranks were flying all over the place, I was expelled so many times I lost count, I was almost kicked out of HS at some point, it was all chaos. Needless to say, my grades were dropping - and that was when my parents decided to take control again. Looking back, if it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't be where I am now. I'm at the best university I could ever ask for and doing something I love, something I wouldn't be doing had they not held me back. Because of them, I actually passed and regained control over myself.

Like others said though, some things they imposed were ridiculous, and so of course, I defied them and still do, haha. That "because I said so" still pisses me off, to this day! *shakes head* Parents.

 

[Sily]

Ahhhh.... My parents. My super-hero parents. I have thanked them over and over for all they did for me. If I listed all, I'd be here all day.

 

[krentz]

I hate to be a combo breaker, but I really don't think there was anything - at least, not anything that I can remember. I was not the sort of child who was liable to accept age as a valid excuse, particularly as I could reason perfectly well at the time, thank-you-very-much. My parents knew better than to try to use this excuse but if they did then I would just keep pushing for the real reason. They usually gave it to me, at which point I was satisfied and often agreed with them despite myself so any negative feelings about the whole affair were transient. If there was anything, then I'm still probably not thanking them for it because it was never something I agreed on.

For that matter, as an aside, I have difficulty understanding people who did things in their past that they would not look as favourably on today. There is very little that I feel that way about myself as I was always the kind of person to make decisions they could stand by completely, and I'm not such a different person that my sense of self would have altered so much. The select few things that I would not choose to do today are still not sources of regret for me because I understand they were important at the time (and there's nothing to say that I wouldn't be doing it now if not then anyway).

I noticed that games and Internet have been mentioned in this thread, and I just feel compelled to comment on that. It's true that having a child do little else than these things would not be particularly healthy, because it's not balanced. Of course I played outside, went on trips, read books and other stuff. But I did play a hell of a lot, more than most, and I can't say I feel that was bad, mostly because it was fun as hell, but also because it helped develop my imagination.

As for the 'net, well... a gateway to that much knowledge that young is always going to be like Pandora's Box. I think that depends on the individual. For me it was a huge source of inspiration and learning, not to mention social interaction of sorts with people far more beneficial to me than most of the ones I knew in school. I also heavily suspect that competitive gaming was the biggest reason behind my dropping out of Uni, but by then I was easily old enough to know better. Besides, it's not like I learned nothing from that experience, either. In fact if there's one bad thing above all else it's that it was so much better when I was younger and everything was newer and now I can do the same things but never seem to enjoy it as much. I guess there's something to be said for moving on to pastures new, even if I don't quite have the heart to do so completely.

 

[The Purple Theory]

Excerpt from a letter my dad gave me for a retreat five years ago:

Retract from your daily routines and focus on your spiritual development.

Remember that physical strength, intelligence, wealth and power are fleeting. They are not "ends" by themselves but only "means" towards a loftier end.

Love God, your family and others but do not also forget yourself.

Learn from your mistakes and never go astray again. I shall always take care and guide you for the rest of my life.

He kept his word but I wasn't able to thank him for it. If it wasn't for this post, I wouldn't have remembered that I still had his letter. Thank you.

 

[kagemitsu]

There are a few things I'm grateful to my parents for, but I'm also resentful about a lot of stuff.

I'm glad they taught me the value of honesty and of being welcoming and charitable to others. I'm also glad they tried their best to support me whenever I made important choices in my life, even if they disagreed: they let me play the sports I wanted, pursue the hobbies I wanted, go to the school I wanted, attend university without worrying about paying for my own rent and stuff. Mind you, they've always tried to make me do things their way, but they never tried to stop me when I made a decision.

What I'm resentful for is that my dad has been (and is) completely absent in my life. He's a very silent and avoidant man and he has no idea on what I've done with my life so far. He's not even sure how old am I, for that matter. My mom instead has always been extremely overprotective and she'd forbid me to do things because knowing that I was at home under her sight and not out with all the dangers of the world made her feel more secure. For example, when I was a kid, all the other kids would be out playing in the courtyard and she wouldn't let me go out. Why? "Because I said so". Even when I had permission to go out, I had to be back home at a certain time or she'd come out looking for me, or threaten me that bad things would happen if I didn't get back home RIGHT NOW. I spent most of my days alone at home with precise instructions of not going out ever. Even if my friends came looking for me, I had to say "I can't come out, mom doesn't want me to". And that's how my love/hate relationship with videogames began. All of her life she's instilled me with fear of everything that is out there and I still suffer the consequences today.

So no, all in all there is nothing that was said during my life that I feel like thanking them for, now that I'm older. Me and my whole family have been on parallel lines all of our lives and it's always gonna be that way.

 

[Vin The Dreamer]

I don't have the best relationship with my parents, but I guess I can sort of thank them for having us move to Brazil when I was younger. Even though it's something I dreaded and wished didn't happen, I can see how it made me grow in a way I couldn't by just staying in the United States. I learned first-hand how habits, cultures, and traditions change from one country to another; how people have very limited perceptions of those from different countries; and became fluent in a second language. I guess I should thank them for going to America in the first place.

 

[Erutpar]

Excerpt from a letter my dad gave me for a retreat five years ago:
Retract from your daily routines and focus on your spiritual development.

Remember that physical strength, intelligence, wealth and power are fleeting. They are not "ends" by themselves but only "means" towards a loftier end.

Love God, your family and others but do not also forget yourself.

Learn from your mistakes and never go astray again. I shall always take care and guide you for the rest of my life.

He kept his word but I wasn't able to thank him for it. If it wasn't for this post, I wouldn't have remembered that I still had his letter. Thank you.

I'm glad you shared that. Your dad sounds awesome. Thank YOU