7 Things You Should Tell Your Parents While You Still Can

1. You were very, very lucky to be given to them.

Know that they probably feel the same about you. There are far too many unloved children in our world today. You were not one of them. Every now and then, think about this.

2. Tell them you appreciate every single thing they have done for you up to this moment.

All the sacrifices they have made, the love and nurturing and resources they have poured into you without a second thought. Even when they struggled and had very little, they still gave selflessly; unconditionally. You are probably yet to fully understand what that feels like, and just how hard it really is.

3. I love you.

Tell them when you leave for work and when you return. Tell them when they ring you, before you hang up. Tell them before you go to sleep each night. Tell them randomly whenever you feel like it, because everyone likes to know that they are loved, and your parents will never grow tired of hearing you say it. You never know when will be the final time you get to say those three words to them, or to anyone.

4. Even though you have probably made many mistakes up to now, you are continuing to grow.

You are trying to make better choices with the arrival of each new day. And that you hope that if not today, then someday, they are proud to call you their son or daughter. Because that is all any child wants to believe.

5. That while you may not see eye to eye on everything, you hope you are as good of a parent to your own child someday as they were to you.

And that your child will be very blessed if you are. All any parent wants is to believe they have done the very best they could’ve done; no more, and no less.

6. That you don’t know what you’ll do when they do leave this world.

Because up until now you’ve never experienced a world without them, and it’s too scary and painful to imagine that world too much, or for too long. It’s inevitable; something that happens to people every day. The world keeps on going, and those people carry on with their lives, and they look okay, but are they really okay? Will I ever be the same again when you’re gone? I don’t know.

7. Tell them thank you.

For everything. For giving birth to you, for teaching you how to read and write, for the warm and loving home you always had, for teaching you right and wrong, for all the laughter and smiles, for shaping you into who you are today. You are who you are because of them, no matter how great or small their impact on you. Whether you thank them for setting such a poor example, that it made you strive to be infinitely better; or whether they set the bar sky high, that you still feel you may never quite reach the same level… they are, and always will be, a part of your heart and soul.