Patience ;)

That if you didn’t know about it while I was in high school, you probably don’t want to know about it now, so don’t ask.

I taught my mom how to cook a turkey. That one backfired on me. I always have to cook the turkey, now!

@chyna oh yeah, that too!

Tolerance. After watching me grow up and disliking my choices in music and clothing, they’ve realized that you ought not judge a book by its cover. When I was in high school, I won a scholarship for a year’s tuition at the university in my hometown. In the photo that the newspaper published, I was wearing my biker-style leather jacket and pants with a Union Jack print, and had about 2 inches of black roots in my spiky, bleached-blonde hair. Not someone you’d expect to win an academic competition.

My parents are gone now and I miss them and they taught me a lot, but although they cussed a lot ‘fuck you’ was never in their vocabulary till they heard it a lot from me.

I taught my Mom to ride a bicycle. To put it in perspective, she was born in 1929 to shareccroppers. She was raised dirt poor. She met and married my dad and they raised eight children and had a very good life.

I was a teenager and had just gotten a new bike. My mom was sitting outiside we me and we were talking. She confessed that she didn’t know how to ride a bike and had always wanted to learn. So, with the help of a fence, I taught her. It is one of my many fond memories of my Mom. I miss her every day.

@bkcunningham That is so touching. What a beautiful memory.

I live a somewhat unconventional life and teach wilderness living and survival skills. I’m also a radical anarchist, while my parents are basically centrist conservatives. In regards to both concepts and hard skills, they are constantly picking up new info from me. Whether it’s a deeper level of critique of existing power structures, the edibility/deliciousness of the fruit on the trees in the back yard, or where to do the best deer hunting, I try to impart information to them as often as I can. It’s the least I can do to repay them for doing the same as I was growing up (and still now). Plus, we have a fairly adult-to-adult sort of relationship.

Unconditional love and forgiveness.

How to make really good dough and pizza.

I think a lot of what I’ve taught my parents has been technology based, taught my mom how to text…THAT one drove me nuts. But there’s also the little things that I didn’t really think about until I had a child of my own such as:
1. Learning to say “yes”...on the same token, when to say no…and mean it.
2. When to let go
3. How to REALLY play with a kid…there’s playing…then there’s PLAYING…the latter being much more enjoyable for all involved.

But…I think the 2 most important things I’ve taught them and that, reflecting upon, my daughter has taught me are:
Unconditional love…and acceptance.

I was their first child – so I taught them all the things first children teach.