My parents are always there for me through thick and thin. They’re the only reason I’m not out on my ass and living on the streets right now. They’ve supported me my entire life in one way or another. Both of them will call me every day to see if I need anything. I can’t even begin explain how much I owe to them, and how I will never be able to pay them back in full.
In return, I have not always been the best son. I’ve given them headache after headache throughout the years. I’ve cursed them, embarrassed them, fought with them, etc… you name it. I don’t feel like I deserve the treatment I’ve been given.
I’ve realized this recently from writing in my journal. At the end of each day, I list three things I’m grateful for. Something Mom and Dad did that day nearly always register as 1 and 2.
Can some parents explain this phenomenon? Why put up with all the crap your kids pull?
One day you will have kids and you will understand.
I always tell people no matter how much you think you love your dog, you cat, your SO, your parents, your other family or your friends
it is nothing compared to the love you will feel the first time you hold your baby in your arms.
Biological imperative, at least when things work as they are intended. There’s a lot of natural incentive to make sure your kids survive to procreate themselves.
Maybe. But apart from that it is just a matter of natural selection. The children of parents who didn’t support them were less likely to reproduce themselves, so genes that tended to make people less nurturing of their children tended to die out, and ones that made them more nurturing were positively selected. (Of course, in practice things are vastly more complicated than that, and how parents and children relate is not only determined by genetics, but there is always that underlying it.)
I can hate what my kids do but I always love them. Most creatures push their offspring out when it’s time and never see them again, but humans have the evolved luxury of long term nurturing and interaction. Hence, Christmas photo cards.
Because you made them, and know them better than anyone else. You can still see the tender 5yr old, the caring preteen, etc. You have faith, you believe so wholly in them, that the good in them will come to shine. In no small part because you have believed so since the moment they first drew breath. And every single moment since. It is not a habit, it’s intuitive, I think. Even when smoking angry, I don’t know that a parent can step away from that core belief.