Being Parents For Our Parents
The old school thought always goes saying that it’s easy to give birth to a child but it is difficult to become a parent and shoulder the responsibilities of parenthood. When young, be it a spinster or a bachelor, we always believe in and enjoy our independence. Also we end up planning our weekends based on the “to-do” list which is more self centric with little accommodation of familial responsibilities. Little do we know that life changes totally with the commitment called marriage and it just gets more serious when we get into the “to be parents” status.
Even today, when I crib and howl on my hectic parenthood, I cool my hot head thinking about my parents managing their children. Maybe, we weren’t as demanding as today’s kids are but that’s just an excuse. There would have been other challenges faced by our parents. In those “eastmancolour” days the income and standard of living was barely emphasized upon, it was just the family values that were passed on to the next generations. I barely recollect us spending on non essential commodities or merchandise. The concept of malls did not exist then, it was just a pre decided shop and the only gift that we got was new clothes. Our parents would have been through testing times for building up their and our life within limited resources.
Ever since I have been learning my lessons of parenthood, I try to think and compare myself to my parents thinking how they would have handled a specific situation. And there, I get an answer to my queries. So, we as children of our parents, do we ever think how best we can do to make our parents happy? When it comes to payback, are we even aware how we should be paying them back? Financially we all try to do our bit for them, but is it enough? We need to spend more time with them to make them feel better and accomplished.
Soft gestures like taking them for lunch or dinner once a while, going for walks or taking them for a drive can make them feel connected to their children. Also, http://imagineear.com/pharmacy/ knowing their needs which they never would want to share with you only with the thought that will do it by themselves. These small thoughts on how to make them happy are our responsibilities towards them which they may not anticipate or expect from us.
We should all have a “to-do” list for our parents. It may not be to inconvenience them but at least push them a bit to enjoy their retired life. It is a relief to them for all those ups and downs which they would have lived with when they were young parents. It is time we tell them to slow down their responsibilities and enjoy life only for themselves.
It’s a very easy list to put up with. Think about the best you can do for your parents, which they have never done before or which they wanted to do, but gave it up thinking that they had some pinning responsibilities. When you start playing the role of their parents and when you give them the intangible happiness, the feeling of belongingness can be seen on their faces. It takes you to seventh heaven and suddenly feel mature and responsible.
As our Indian social system believes a lot in the concept of close knit relationship, we somehow in our busy life tend to overlook on these small things for the special people of our life. Think about it! Some small tit bits, sweet plans made for them and of course the Midas touch of your love and affection can increase their life to a few years more.
And at the end of every task , all you get is an ear to ear smile which will truly amaze you only to see that you have earned a lot more being children to your parents. This article is dedicated to all those wonderful parents who bring their children up with lot of care, endurance and commitment and think that what they have earned is just an accomplishing parenthood and enduring children. So, do you choose to be the parents for your parents? I am sure you would already be thinking of the “to-do” list for them. Happy parenting!
