THANKS MUMMY & DADDY….
Most of us love to brag about our parents. Even memories of when they would yell at you or nag you as a kid can become fond memories when you become older and take a look back. This post is about me and my parents. It is about their imperfections and perfections. It is about the things they taught me directly or indirectly. I am writing this blog post in the middle of the 2020 COVID-19 PANDEMIC. Although my parents are safe and at home, it made me appreciate them more since I have not seen them face to face in several months.
Little did they know, but my parents were the key influence and foundation for me becoming the Young Defender that I am today. As a parent myself, I never received a manual on how to raise kids properly. We may receive some advice from others or books, but most of it is trial and error. For better or worse, we learn a lot from our parent’s style of raising kids. All parents are doing the best they know how to and my parents were no different.
The person I am today has to do a lot with my own parent’s influence. Both my parents were immigrants from India. After looking at a magazine about America, my Dad decided it would be a cool place to go to. He came here in 1960s for schooling and never went back. He settled in Philadelphia, PA with my mom and oldest brother. My dad is an engineer and my mom worked in a factory for several years before she retired. I loved my parents and all the great things they have done for me and my two brothers.
Here are some of the things I learned from them directly and indirectly:
- Financial responsibility (Working hard, saving, investing)
- Unconditional love and sacrifice (they gave us so much and never asked anything in return)
- The importance of education (sending us to private schools for years)
- Overprotecting your kids can hold them back
- Fear can hold you back, so go out there and take on the world
- Delayed gratification can be good and bad
- Sometimes you have to let go of your kids
- Living life with honor and a sense of giving back
- Children and grandchildren are the most precious resources we have in life
- Procrastination is your enemy
- Do not waste Anything (This is a fitting lesson during the current pandemic)
- Do not keep your kids in diapers (figuratively) forever (Don’t pamper them)
- Love what you do for a living
- It is OK to love your relatives even if they are not perfect
I am blessed to still have my parents with me. They are one my GREATEST GIFTS and RESOURCES.
THANK YOU BOTH AND LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
