[17] My Parents Were Right All Along

    In high school, I was known for having strict parents. They had the most intense rules and they never let me break them. Ever. One rule, was that I was never allowed to sleep in past 8:30 a.m. no matter what. Even if it was Saturday, I was expected to wake up and be doing chores by 8:30. I had a date Friday night and was very tired so waking up Saturday morning was not very easy. When the morning came, I opened my eyes and looked at the clock that read 8:33. I jumped out of bed and started making the bed. Right then, my dad walked into my room and looked at me. He told me that he knew I wasn't up at 8:30, so he took away my phone for the rest of the weekend for a punishment. 

     My parents were strict like that all the time. I never knew it was that bad until my friends curfews got later and later until they didn't have one anymore and mine stayed at 10:30. I was expected to tell my parents everywhere I was whenever I went anywhere and changed locations. I was expected to get home at 10:30 even up until the day I left for college. 

     I told myself that I would never do that to my future kids. They would have late curfews like all of their friends, and I would let them rest on the weekends after hard weeks of school. I would let them have sleepovers and have their own phones. They would know how much I love them because I would show them in letting them hang out with friends when they wanted to because my parents wouldn't let me. 

     I thought I was right and they were wrong, until I came to college. I am in a Human Development class and one day we talked about parenting. That day, I realized that my parents were amazing parents and they did almost everything right. They made rules (even if they were a little harsh) and stuck to them. They didn't let me break rules and that taught me consistency. My parents set high expectations for me, but without them, I wouldn't be where I am today. Now I know that my parents were right all along and I owe them big time. I guess their reward will be sweet when I am a mom and have similar rules to the ones I had growing up.