The Realization That Your Parents Are People
The last step of growing up is learning that your parents are just like you and everybody else
It’s in those moments when they need your shoulder to cry on, that stage when going home isn’t to their house, those times that dinner’s on you — ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ becomes just another word.
Realizing that your parents are people is the ultimate step in growing up. Only when you experience that change in perception do you fully grasp that you’re an adult — you and your parents are equals. They’re not some invincible, all-knowing breed of superhuman. They’re real people, with real struggles and anxieties, real hopes and dreams.
It’s weird, that shift in perception. It doesn’t seem like it should make sense — your parents are the people who brought you through this world, after all. But it’s not something you can control. As life progresses, so do our relationships, and as we lose our innocence, we lose our concept of parents.
I’m still undergoing this process. Lucky for me, I realize I actually like my parents as people, but there’s still that part of me that hasn’t been fully able to separate them from the role of caregivers and providers. Perhaps I won’t be able to let go of that perception until I become a parent myself or something else…
