Did they do more harm than good?

Question

looking back in retrospect what life lessons can you honestly say your parents taught you.Or did you have to figure out a lot of things on your own.. maybe after many mistakes and heart aches.

Answer 1

I had to figure things out on my own because my mom would tell me not to do things and not tell me why. For example, my mom told me not to have sex, she didn't explain that you could get pregnant or get STD's. I had sex and got pregnant. My mom also never told us she loved us except when she wanted something. I tell my kids I love them about 10 times a day.

Answer 2

Remember being a parent does not make someone perfect. Most good intent is spoiled by lack of knowledge. Your parents carried the mistakes of their parents to You. The older generation had far less information than you do. Since I am old I can understand more about my parents than when I was young.
My children respected most of what I tried to instill in them but there are things I did wrong and so did my wife. Just a mother bears make mistakes so do most parents. Learn from their mistakes but look deep at things before you condemn them.

Answer 3

Parents give you the basics, life is learning, mistakes are made for lessons to be learned.Lessons are to be given or taken.Heartaches make you stronger. No matter how old you get or how long you live there will always be mistakes and heartaches. That is just part of life and how you want to deal with past, present and future.

Answer 4

When I was small I grew up in a single parent home and I had a little sister ( 5 yrs younger). I was a latch key kid ( back then a child who carried his own house key was called a latch key kid)
When my sister and I came home our mother was not there yet from work. I remember my mother made about 150.00 a week working at a factory. Sometimes very rarely when my mother could afford it she would give me money, sometimes a dollar sometimes two. I would not spend my money and would save it.
At times when we would come home from school and we did not have any bread or tortillas I would go to the corner store and buy them with the money I saved. When my mother would come home from work she would ask where I got the money from and I would tell her it was what she had given me 3-4 weeks ago. We did not have a car and my mother took 2 buses one way to and from work, sometimes she did not have enough for the fare and she would ask to borrow from me, I would lend it to her and not expect to be paid back , but she always told me to pay whatever I borrowed from whoever. She always paid me back and that made me feel good. She made me feel important. I teach my kids the same thing, should I borrow from them it sometimes takes me a while but I pay them back.

Answer 5

I think with everyone, regardless of what you parents taught you, will have to make mistakes and have heartaches in their life. It helps define you as a person. Your parents may not teach you everything. My mom and I talked about everything from everyday life to sex. She encouraged me to make the right decisions. I was married and divorced by time I was 21 thinking I was making the right decision. I think parents do what they can with the skills they have and try to mold you into the person you are. It is up to you to decide how your life will take you.

Answer 6

I would say 20/60. 60% of what I have figured out is from my own experiences, whether mistakes or good choices. My parents taught me about Jesus' love and basically how to live as a Christian, but I learned (unfortunately) "wordly wisdom" on my own.

Answer 7

The thing is, parents are there to guide you, not make choices for you. I learned from alot of mistakes I made, but my parents gave me the knowledge and strength to make those mistakes for myself. If they teach you to the point that you never have to make your own mistakes, what would you really learn? They aren't always right and so they need to let you discover whats right and wrong for you.

Answer 8

When I was 10 and my brother was 9, my dad came home early and found a small hole in the lamp shade next to the front door. My dad thought that we were making blow darts again and put the hole in it. After interogating us, both of us denied the crime he spanked us and sent us to our rooms. My step mom came home from work and my dad told her what happened. Well come to find out she did it on accident that morning. My dad called us into his room and told us what happened and thought is was fair for us to spank him for spanking us. Well when I was done we never got spanked again. In a way this tought us fairness and not to pass judgement without all the facts (not to mention my spanking fetish with my girlfriend) I can honestly say that I learned alot from my parents and I'm thankful for misunderstandings like this one.

Answer 9

Your parents try to guide as well as they can. But for you to learn life's lessons you have to make your own mistakes. I think the mistakes that parents make, is trying to make sure you don't make mistakes that they themselves made. Life lessons, good and bad, makes us who we are. We do have to learn things for ourselves as hard as it may be for our parents to watch. I think the life lesson I learned from my mother was to be independent and not take things for granted. Other than that I had to learn things my own way. I have made some mistakes but it makes me who I am today. Heartaches and mishaps makes us grow as human beings and hopefully helps us learn what not to do.

Answer 10

Since I was tossed from home to home within my family, I raised myself. I made mistakes and honestly I would change some things if I could.

Answer 11

My mother did the best she could since my father died when I was a baby. I had to learn many things on my own but that made me a strong person so I am glad for it.