Ankur Warikoo talks to young adults about how to make their parents understand their choices

I grew up adoring my parents.
They were everything to me.

They shaped my values, my reality, my fears, my ambitions.
In my eyes, they could do nothing wrong.

Until, I began to see the “wrong”.
Or how their thinking wasn’t always right.
And how they could also make mistakes.

We all have that moment when we realise our parents are also human.
And that moment can be unsettling.

So, most of us begin to hate our parents – for having this split personality.

When the truth is – that IS their personality.
We confused their role as parents with their personalities.

Here is what helped me:
I began to see my parents as normal people.

I love them, I respect them and I care.
But I also recognise they are not perfect.
And I am okay with that.

Parents are humans first.
Parents second.
Which means, they too can be wrong.
They too can be toxic.
They too can be unreasonable.

Your parents had a very different life from yours.
For them, survival was the key.
To have a monthly income to pay the bills.
The fees, the rent.

They didn’t consider that exploring different careers, taking a gap year or switching jobs, were even options.
And they probably learnt that from their parents.
So, they found a job and stuck with it until they retired.

But we live in…

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