My Parents

People ask all the time about what my parents did to make us all so close as a family. I can't go into specific detail because I was growing up, learning about life, and not paying too much attention to their parenting skills. I can tell you what I do remember though. My parent's were honest with us, not afraid to show their love and affection. They treated us with the respect as they would with any other human being. All three of us were made to feel special, no matter what the situation or trouble we may have been in. If they felt a need to discipline us, they would do it in a way that didn't hurt our egos or degrade us in any way. They communicated the reason why they were upset and what we needed to do to fix it. They let us know that our "troubled" actions weren't brought on because we were "bad" kids, they happened because we made a bad choice and we had to learn from our mistakes. They kept the trust there even when we didn't deserve it, which made their disappointment of us worse than any other punishment. They remembered what it was like for them growing up, which made it possible for us to explore what we needed to succeed as human beings and adults. They loved us unconditionally...end of story.